Tukituki MP Catherine Wedd (left) and Hastings Mayor Wendy Schollum lay wreaths in Civic Square at the memorial service for the 95th anniversary of the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. Photo / Jack Riddell
Tukituki MP Catherine Wedd (left) and Hastings Mayor Wendy Schollum lay wreaths in Civic Square at the memorial service for the 95th anniversary of the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. Photo / Jack Riddell
Some quiet tears were shed and a few laughs shared to mark 95 years since the earthquake that changed Hawke’s Bay forever.
The 7.4-magnitude quake struck on Tuesday, February 3, 1931, at 10.47am.
There were 256 lives lost in the ensuing disaster – 161 in Napier, 93 in Hastings andtwo in Wairoa.
It remains the largest loss of life and most damaging earthquake in New Zealand’s recorded history.
Services were held across Hawke’s Bay to mark the occasion, with Napier City Council holding its earthquake memorial service at the Waiapu Cathedral on Sunday and Hastings holding its at Civic Square on Tuesday.
Among those present at the Napier service were five survivors of the earthquake, who sat alongside younger members of the community with Napier Mayor Richard McGrath and Napier MP Katie Nimon, acting as a living link between past and present, reflecting on the loss, the survival and the strength of the city that followed.
Napier MP Katie Nimon (left) and Napier Mayor Richard McGrath at the earthquake memorial service at the Waiapu Cathedral.
Hastings’ memorial service was held in the new location of Civic Square. Normally held by Hastings Clock Tower, the service was moved this year because of KiwiRail work at the nearby rail crossing.
Members of the council and of Parliament, kaumātua and students from local schools were in attendance to pay their respects to those who died.
Among them was Lindsay McIntosh, whose three older siblings were playing up a hill near Ākitio in what has since become the Tararua District when the quake struck.
“They all ran and end up tumbling down the bloody hill,” he said.
“Then when they got back to the house, the fireplace and the whole chimney had tipped over.
“My father being a carpenter, he came up here to help build Hastings and Napier for many years.”
McIntosh was at the service to hear stories from the earthquake and said he’d like to see more about the earthquake taught in schools, as he believed the lessons learned on that day were just as relevant now as they were then.
One of the stories that captivated McIntosh was told by Hastings Deputy Mayor and historian Michael Fowler.
Fowler regaled the audience with the story of confectionery store Royal Cafe, a former Hastings business that once sat near Toitoi Events Centre.
According to Fowler, following the earthquake, confectionery stores across Hawke’s Bay were raided by sweet-toothed children.
Royal Cafe operator Reg Mardon came back to his store to find all his sweets gone, aside from a particular brand of hard-boiled lollies.
Mardon put out a message to the district’s children, telling them they were not in trouble, but asking them to come to his store and explain why they did not take his hard-boiled lollies.
Fortunately for Mardon, a couple of honest lads came to tell him they didn’t touch the hard-boiled sweets as they tasted awful. Mardon never ordered them again.
Fowler said this story is an example of those who lived through the earthquake and aftermath still being able to find humour in their situation.
“Even though in the midst of disaster, they had a sense of humour and they laughed about the lolly story,” he said.
“People are resilient.”
Fowler said he felt sad that this was the first Hastings memorial where no earthquake survivors were present.
Hastings Mayor Wendy Schollum said the commemorations were important because “we carry forward the lessons learned in the past”.
“You don’t have to look too far in our past to see that history repeats. Mother Nature and the forces of nature are always there and a real risk to us.”
Now, five years out from the 100th anniversary of the earthquake, Schollum said the council was driven by the community and would be “making sure that there is an appropriate acknowledgment”.
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.
