Mauao authorities apologise after Adrian Shuen's memorial seat removed without his family's knowledge

Adrian Shuen's plaque, pictured in 2018. It has now been removed from a memorial seat on Mauao. Photo / Andrew Warner

A bereaved family says their grief has been reignited after authorities removed their 19-year-old memorial seat on Mauao without telling them.

Adrian Shuen died in 2003 after a heart attack at work at Bakels in Mount Maunganui. He was 31 and left behind a wife and two children.

On the first anniversary of his death, his widow and family arranged and paid for a memorial seat and plaque to be installed on Mauao's base track overlooking the ocean.

Since then, it has been used by family and friends at least once a week as a place of love, comfort, peace and reflection.

Nineteen years later, on Monday, his widow Nicky Sowerby visited the seat again but it was gone.

Instead, new bench seating had been installed, with no sign of the memorial plaque.

When Sowerby called Tauranga City Council, she said she was told a decision had been made to remove all the memorial seats on Mauao.

"It's been really distressing to find out [the way] we did and not being able to go and have closure," she said.

Nicky Sowerby, pictured three weeks ago, on a memorial seat with a plaque dedicated to her late husband Adrian Shuen. The seat has since been removed. Photo / Supplied

Sowerby said no one contacted her or anyone in the Shuen family about the removal, which she found especially galling as she called the council every January - the anniversary of Adrian's death.

"The fact I actually follow up with the council on a yearly basis to make sure there are no changes... I find that really poor," she said.

Sowerby said she was told there "wasn't anything in the pipeline for the existing seat".

"For that to be all changed without being notified... I know they have my details. It's not difficult for them to look," she said.

"It would have been easy enough to put something on the Mount Noticeboard [Facebook page]."

Sowerby said the lack of consultation, let alone the removal of the memorial seat, had "really knocked us".

"It's the way they've dealt with it. It's not OK. It's a special, sacred place."

Sowerby and the rest of the Shuen family and friends often used Adrian's seat as a meeting place for celebrations and gatherings.

She felt the family should be given the seat and plaque back, especially as she had paid for them.

Adrian's sister Larraine Shuen said she felt sad and "pretty disappointed" the seat was removed without the family's knowledge.

"We've found out in such a s****y way. There's been no consultation."

Shuen said she understood all memorial seats were being removed and there were still some in the process of being removed.

There were 11 memorial seats on Mauao.

She said she would hate for another family to find out their memorial seat had been removed in the same way her family had.

She said the family had been told the plaque was sitting on a council staff member's desk.

"They've taken away a place of remembrance for us without talking to us or giving us time to adjust to this."

New bench seating has replaced a memorial seat at the base of Mauao. Photo / Supplied

She said the removal of Adrian's seat reignited long-settled grief.

"This [seat] is part of who we are, [it was] just taken away - it just brings back all of that."

Asked what she would like done about the seat's removal, Shuen said: "I want the seat - the actual seat that we paid for 19 years ago - and the plaque back, and an apology from them, that they've got this flipping wrong."

Shuen messaged the Mauao Trust about her concerns.

In correspondence sighted by the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend, trust administrator Porina McLeod confirmed Ngā Poutiriāo ō Mauao - the joint administration board for Mauao - had decided to no longer have memorials on the maunga.

"Families of those who had memorials will be contacted with an explanation and return of plaques," McLeod said.

"This has been done with utmost respect and consideration to all whānau involved... it was a sensitive topic and a decision not taken lightly."

Adrian Shuen died of a heart attack in 2003, aged 31. He left behind a grieving family, wife and children. Photo / Supplied

In a response to inquiries from the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend, Ngā Poutiriao ō Mauao chairman Dean Flavell apologised on behalf of the trust.

"I would like to extend our deepest apologies to the family for any emotional stress caused and would like to return the seat and plaque."

The council was asked what steps were taken to publically notify the removal of the seats, and to contact the families involved. It was also asked where the seat and plaque were now.

Council manager of spaces and places Sarah Pearce confirmed one seat and associated memorial plaque had been removed.

Pearce said "unfortunately" the council was unable to locate any contact details for the family connected to the memorial before the removal took place.

Pearce said the council was undertaking a Mauao Placemaking project with Ngā Poutiriao ō Mauao "which sets out to share the rich history and stories of Mauao through new... signage and cultural touchpoints across the maunga".

"As part of this project, existing seating will be replaced over the coming months," Pearce said.

This specific part of the project "did not require public notification" as it was a matter between Ngā Poutiriao ō Mauao and memorial holders, she said.

"All plaques that need to be removed will be stored safely until they can be collected by the families. We would like to work with the families to discuss the possibility of planting trees in memory of their loved ones."

It was "challenging to locate contact details that were still accurate" for some families.

The Mauao Historic Reserve Management Plan created in 2018 stated "no new memorial seats or plaques are permitted".

Pearce said: "Therefore, no memorial seats on Mauao will be renewed once removed".

Anyone with a memorial seat on Mauao who had not been contacted by the council should call the council and speak with the Mauao ranger, Josh Clark.

On Friday afternoon, Sowerby received an emailed apology from Clark for the way she discovered the seat's removal.

He said the plaque would be returned and a contractor would rebuild and refurbish the seat so the family could also have that.

One of the memorial seats on the Mauao base track. Photo / Andrew Warner