Petition to remember the “Doris Disaster”

At 11pm on 28th Decem­ber 1932, ten water­side work­ers (includ­ing my great-grand­fa­ther) drowned at Napi­er, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, when their launch, the “Doris”, and anoth­er ves­sel col­lid­ed. This remains Hawke’s Bay’s worst mar­itime dis­as­ter and has had a last­ing impact on the fam­i­lies of the vic­tims. When I was a child my grand­fa­ther would often take me to the clos­est coastal spot to where the dis­as­ter occurred (known local­ly then as “Per­fume Point”).

Land Infor­ma­tion New Zealand is cur­rent­ly con­sid­er­ing a pro­pos­al to name this point of land “East Pier Point”. This is the name of a near­by restau­rant and hotel.

I am ask­ing Land Infor­ma­tion New Zealand to con­sid­er nam­ing the point “Doris Point” in remem­brance of the vic­tims of the “Doris Dis­as­ter”. Many still have fam­i­ly liv­ing in the area and apart from their grave there is no pub­lic memo­r­i­al to these men.

Melanie Gib­son (Hawkes Bay)

Sign the peti­tion here.