The worst railway disaster in New Zealand's history occurred on Christmas Eve 1953 when the Wellington-Auckland night express plunged into the flooded Whangaehu River just west of Tangiwai, 8 km west of Waiouru. Of the 285 people on board, 151 were killed. The tragedy left a nation in mourning, and stunned the world.
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The Tangiwai National Memorial, designed by government architect F. Gordon Wilson, was unveiled at Karori Cemetery on 26 March 1957. Another memorial was eventually erected at the scene of the disaster in June 1989.
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Tangiwai memorial (detail)
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Tangiwai memorial plaque
The Tangiwai memorial features sixteen graves of Tangiwai victims, each with a bronze plaque at the foot. The eight named plaques are for: Edith Monica Cook (23), Jean Mary Cranch (19), Heather Edna Golding (29), Eileen Frances Hale (35), Kathleen Florence Hallam (24), Ronal Charles Hammond (25), Walter Edward Murray (54) and Adrianus Hubertus Thonissen (27). There are also eight graves for those whose bodies were never identified. These bear the inscription 'Known Unto God'.
Names on the Memorial
The following is a list of the 151 people killed at the Tangiwai Railway Disaster of 24 December 1953. These names are transcribed from the Tangiwai Memorial.
- Adin, Henry
- Adin, Queenie
- Anderson, Margaret Jean
- Angel, Johannes Petrus
- Attree, Trevor Crawford
- Bacon, William Trevor
- Bagley, Ann Victoria
- Baillie, Hilda Mary
- Benge, Colleen Frances
- Benton, Beverley
- Benton, Edward Roslyn
- Benton, Florence Ann
- Benton, Glennis
- Benton, Roslyn
- Booker, Murray Robert Craig
- Boucher, John White
- Bradley, Thomas John
- Brennan, Bettina Melody
- Brett, Wilfred Lee
- Briggs, John Hammond
- Byars, John Fleming
- Capper, Desmond James
- Caslon, Patricia
- Clark, Trevor Charles
- Cochrane, Georgina Maitland
- Cockburn, Douglas Robertson
- Cockburn, John Harold
- Cook, Edith Monica
- Cormack, David Avery
- Cormack, Violet Olive
- Cox, John Morrison
- Cox, Mae Morrison
- Cranch, Jean Mary
- Croucher, Eric William Croucher
- Crowley, Joan May
- Davies, Gordon Leonard
- Diggle, Janice
- Diggle, Norman Cyril
- Diggle, Valerie Joyce
- Doole, Elizabeth Graham
- Drown, Alan Maxwell
- Edgecumbe, Patricia Margarita
- Eilers, Ngaire Joyce
- Elford, Dianne Laurel
- Elford, Evelyn May
- Elford, Rober Charles
- Elsley, Cecilie Lily
- Ensor, Mabel Lay
- Eves, Roberta Elizabeth
- Fitzgerald, Geraldine
- Fitzgerald, Ian Gerald
- Fitzgerald, John Edward
- Fitzgerald , Veronica Mary Margaret
- Flavell, Sydney Walter
- Foote, Harold Victor
- Foote, Ian
- Golding, Heather Edna
- Goodhue, Frederick Gordon
- Gray, Te Wheturere James
- Grigor, Sheila
- Hale, Eileen Frances
- Hale, Rober Joseph
- Hallam, Kathleen Florence
- Hammond, Ronald Charles
- Hanley, Christina Marie
- Hanley , Evelyn
- Hanley, Robert
- Havler, John Herbert
- Holloway, Frederick Walter
- Hylands, Arthur
- Hylands, Elizabeth
- Josephs, Stanley Victor
- Karam, Madeline Bernadette
- Kemp, Reongaro
- Kennedy, Suzanne Katherine
- Kent, Frederick Shipley
- Kent, Jessie Elizabeth
- Kura, Mere
- Kukuruzsnyak, Balazs
- Lightfoot, Una Constance
- Lloyd, Barbara Anne
- Love, Nerissa Ann
- McFadgen, Gwendoline Dorothy
- McGinley, Rae Marie
- McLeod, Gordon Alexander
- McMann, Royal Josephine
- Miller, Edwina Hilda
- Miller, Jeanette Neil Johnstone
- Miller, June Mary Mabel
- Moir, Thomas Rowe Scott
- Molen, Phillip James Vander
- Monteith, Michael Thomas
- Moody, Melanie Carlo Anne
- Moore, Carol May
- Morgan, Horace Royston
- Morgan, John Henry
- Murray, Walter Edward
- Nicholls, Eva
- Nicholls, Herbert James
- Nicholls, Jack Raymond
- Nicholls, Paul Alan
- Nicholls, Raymond Herbert
- Niddrie, Irene Patricia Christine
- Oliver, Betty
- Olson, Olaf Patrick
- Osborn, Margaret Elizabeth
- Papariki, Linda
- Parker, Charles John Henry
- Parry, Herbert Staveley
- Perry, Margaret Jean
- Polgar, John
- Porter, Elizabeth May
- Powick, Josephine Margaret Ellen
- Reardon, Pamela Waveney
- Redman, Lancelot
- Rhodes, Joseph Henry
- Roberts, Shirley Anne
- Russell, Jim Leslie
- Ryan, Leonard Arthur Vivian
- Sanders, Margaret
- Scotland, Alexander
- Scott, Robert Aitchison
- Shandley, Richard
- Sharp, Donald William
- Stead, Daphne Lily
- Stevens, John Edward Lee
- Stokes, Audrey Mavis
- Stokes, Joseph Charles
- Squire, Pearl Jessie
- Ter Huppen, Gerrit Willem
- Ter Huppen, Janna Manna
- Thomass, Neil Lewis
- Thomass, Paul Garry
- Thonissen, Adrianus Hubertus
- Torrey, Joyce Ellen
- Trevelyan, Janet Mary
- Vakalala, Aisea Sevutia
- Wale, Arthur John
- Walker, Evelyn Joy
- Walker, Mereana
- Warrilow, Dorothy Alice Eleanor
- Warrilow, Douglas Claude
- Wellington, Gordon William
- Wellington, Lillian Beatrice
- White, Margaret Rose
- Wilson , Betty Amy
- Wilton, Melva Doreen
- Wood, Amelia Agnes
- Wood, James
- Wood, James (JNR)
- Workman, Doris Edith
