A poignant memorial stands in the grounds of the Hikurangi Museum, north of Whangārei. This commemorates the victims of a tragic accident at the Ackers family’s mine at Waro. On 15 February 1933, 18-year-old Albert Ackers was overcome by ‘black damp’ (poisonous gas) and fell to the bottom of the shaft. His brothers James (25) and Jack (21) both died trying to rescue him. A fourth brother, Robert, was restrained from following them into the mine.
The memorial was erected by the descendants of James Ackers and unveiled on 15 February 1999.
Sources: ‘Tragedy at mine’, NZ Herald, 16/2/1933, p. 8; Madge Malcolm, Hikurangi: Story of a Coalmining Town, Kamo, 1997, pp. 8-9, 22-3; Rosemary Roberts, ‘The day “black damp” killed three brothers’, Northern Advocate, 24/11/2010.
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