Four sites in central Christchurch have been shortlisted for a national memorial to the 51 people killed in the mosque attacks of 15 March 2019, and the families of those who died and the people who were injured are now being asked which one they want.
The shortlist was released by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage on Monday 14 September. The four options are Victoria Lake in Hagley Park, South Rolleston Avenue, and two stretches of the Avon River, described by the ministry as Central Ōtākaro and South Ōtākaro (Ōtākaro is the Māori name for the Avon). RNZ reported that South Rolleston Avenue, beside the Botanic Gardens, is where people laid flowers after the attacks.
No decision has been made. The ministry said in its announcement that the families have been closely involved in identifying the options and are being asked for their feedback before anything else happens.
“It’s absolutely crucial that the affected families have time to consider the sites and tell us what they think,” said Leauanae Laulu Mac Leauanae, the Secretary for Culture and Heritage.
“The impacts of that dreadful day were felt throughout Christchurch, Aotearoa and further afield. But they were most keenly felt by those who lost people or were injured,” Leauanae said. “Our nation responded to the events of March 15 with love, compassion and unity. That is something we can be proud of as a country.”
The memorial will honour the 51 people who were killed at the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre during Friday prayers. Their families call them the shuhada, an Arabic word meaning martyrs. It is also meant to recognise more than the dead. When the search for a site was first made public at the start of September, Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger said “The memorial will also recognise the many who were injured, those who witnessed the attacks, the emergency responders, and the people across Christchurch, New Zealand and worldwide who provided ongoing support.”
The brief from the start was for a civic space that is easy to reach, so that large numbers of people can come and pay their respects. All four shortlisted sites are in central Christchurch, in the parkland of Hagley Park and along the banks of the Avon River that winds through the city centre.
“Although our city was the scene of a terrible tragedy, we want it to also be the home to something beautiful,” Mauger told RNZ.
Hagley Park already carries some of that history. After the attacks the national remembrance service was held in Hagley Park, and the Botanic Gardens beside it hosted this year’s commemorations. At the seventh anniversary in March, RNZ reported that hundreds of people walked from the Bridge of Remembrance to the Peace Bell in the Botanic Gardens, carrying 51 prayer mats, one for each person who was killed. The walk was organised by the Sakinah Community Trust, which was set up by a number of the widows.
The ministry is leading the project with the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, Christchurch City Council and mana whenua, the local iwi with customary authority over the land. “Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage will continue to work closely with Christchurch City Council, the Ministry for Ethnic Communities and mana whenua to find an appropriate site and establish the memorial,” Leauanae said.
The process now runs in three steps. First the affected community gives its feedback on the shortlist. Then Christchurch City Council makes a formal offer of one or more sites. After that, the ministry chooses a preferred site. RNZ reported that the four options were due to go to a council workshop on Tuesday 15 September. No outcome from that workshop has been reported since.
No timetable for a final decision, a design or construction has been announced, and the ministry has not published a budget.
The same ministry has run a similar process in Christchurch before. The National Erebus Memorial, for the 257 people who died when Air New Zealand Flight TE901 flew into Mount Erebus in Antarctica on 28 November 1979, was originally meant to be built in Auckland. A plan for Dove-Myer Robinson Park in Parnell was abandoned in 2023 after strong local opposition and damage from Cyclone Gabrielle, and the ministry went on to look at around 50 sites across Auckland without finding one that worked.
In August 2025 Christchurch City Council offered two sites, Cracroft Reserve in the Cashmere Hills and a spot on the Avon River. The ministry chose Cracroft Reserve in November 2025, keeping the riverbank as a fallback, and construction began in June this year with a site blessing attended by Erebus families. That memorial took more than four decades to get off the ground.
The March 15 memorial is moving through the same steps, a council offer followed by a ministry choice, but seven years after the event rather than 46.
There are already smaller memorials in the city. At the anniversary in March, flowers surrounded a memorial to the 51 outside the Al Noor Mosque. What has been missing is a single national place, in the public heart of the city, where people from anywhere in the country can go.
Whichever site is chosen, it will be in the same stretch of parks and riverbank where Christchurch brought flowers, stood in silence and came together in the days after the attacks.
Which of the four sites do you think would best suit a national memorial, and what would you want it to say? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
Leave a Reply