Yet finding a site willing to host a memorial for the 257 victims of the crash has been "tricky" and "heartbreaking", the Ministry of Heritage and Culture's deputy secretary of Māori Crown Partnerships says.
Plans for a memorial in Auckland's Dove Meyer Robinson Park divided opinions with objectors claiming it would change the tone of the gardens.
That proposal was eventually abandoned after cyclone damage and land instability meant it was no longer safe to build on the site.
Since then, both Auckland's Cornwall and Monte Cecilia parks have declined to host a memorial.
Pukeahu National War Memorial Park in Wellington has also been shortlisted as a suitable location but the RSA does not want it.
The Ministry of Heritage and Culture's Glenis Philip-Barbara told Checkpoint they were asking for a 100-year commitment - something many landowners were not willing to make.
"It's been tricky, and a bit heartbreaking."
The pushback impacted families, Philip-Barbara said, and they had promised not to establish a memorial in a place where it was not welcome.
It was an "opportunity" to hold on to a precious piece of Aotearoa's history, she said.
But families were ageing and the length of time it was taking to find a location was "always a worry for us".
"What's critical for them is that the stories of the 257 and the learnings from the Erebus disaster are never lost to this country."
David Allan, who lost his parents and sister in the disaster, told Checkpoint the likelihood of any memorial being a place for directly affected family members to go and pay their respects was becoming slimmer as time went on.
He believed it may be better suited in Christchurch's International Antarctic Centre for educational purposes.
"It's extremely frustrating that it takes this long," Allan said.
He believed if someone had suggested a memorial shortly after the crash, it would have gone up anywhere.
But he now found it "really hard to understand" the rationale for locations not wanting it.
Philip-Barbara said the RSA had expressed the focus of Pukeahu National War Memorial Park was to be on war memorial.
The RSA had looked at the kaupapa of an Erebus memorial "and they are not seeing alignment".
"I wish I could give you a date to deliver by, I really can't do that until we pin down a site."
Short story marks anniversary of Erebus disaster
Christchurch playwright/writer Cameron Wootton has written a fictional short story about a couple on the fateful Erebus flight who were struggling to hold their marriage together.
Wootton said: "I was inspired to write it with the 45th anniversary coming up (on) Thursday and it deals with a character approaching 45 years old as well, and his struggles in life and marriage."
DON BURROWS - A man in his forties
JUNE BURROWS - A woman in her forties
1201 NZST
JUNE: ‘Prawns or scallops?’
DON: ‘What’s that, my dear?’
JUNE: ‘For the cocktail party on Saturday. Shall we try the prawns or scallops?’
DON: ‘We’re already having them on the flight.’
JUNE: ‘I know, Don. But I should ask the airline to give us the recipes.’
DON: ‘June, I don’t think the airlines give out their own recipes.’
JUNE: ‘No harm in asking.’
All this fuss for a cocktail party! I don’t why she bothers. And I bet it’s Paul and Ruth again.
DON: ‘Who’s coming to the party again, June?’
JUNE: ‘Paul and Ruth.’
I knew it!
JUNE: ‘They’ve never been on the flight, so I thought we could win them over with the scallops. Or maybe the prawns? I wonder if we could have time to do both…’
If we’re doing seafood, why not fish and chips?
JUNE: ‘Have you talked to Paul at the golf club?’
DON: ‘Yes.’
I can’t avoid him no matter which hole I’m playing at.
JUNE: ‘I’m sure he’ll give you more advice on your put.’
Just because he manages the branch up the road, doesn’t mean I have to share his hobbies!
JUNE: ‘I also need to persuade Ruth to try the flight out. She was a bit apprehensive about flying when I called her yesterday. I think that Pakistani crash on the news has really put her off - and that one earlier this year, on the way to Chicago…’
DON: ‘Los Angeles…’
JUNE: ‘I thought it was Chicago.’
DON: ‘No, it left Chicago and was heading for Los Angeles.’
JUNE: ‘Well anyway, I think it’s unfair that Paul doesn’t encourage her to travel more. He usually flies to Wellington for his work.’
He goes there because his mistress lives there. I think he hardly goes there for work. Unless it’s to work up a sweat…
JUNE: ‘If I can convince her with the prawns… or the scallops? No, I think the prawns would work. I’m sure I can convince both of them to buy their tickets.’
Adultery. It makes me sick. It makes me sick to think that is one of the few things I have in common with Paul…
JUNE: ‘I’m glad she didn’t come on this flight though. That woman who tried to leave before take-off this morning, would’ve made things worse for Ruth.’
That air hostess serving the drinks looks nice. She looks a bit like Glenda… Glenda. I bet she’s back from lunch and at her typing desk by now. She eats so much that woman, and yet she still looks stunning.
JUNE: ‘I wonder if Thousand Island goes with prawns…’
Radiant golden blonde hair. Not too skinny. Not too paunchy.
JUNE: ‘Or maybe tartare…’
Like one of them gazelles on that TV show the other night.
JUNE: ‘I think I’ll go with the Thousand Island…’
I’ll try that out when I go around to hers next. Yeah… just as we embrace together on her bed and I kiss her warm neck, I’ll look into her dark eyes and say to her gently…
JUNE: ‘Tartare might be easier to make though.’
“You wild gazelle.”
JUNE: ‘Although I like Thousand Island more…’
What a load of rubbish! What I’m saying to her is that she belongs in a David Attenborough documentary.
JUNE: ‘I think Ivy said she prefers tartare. By the way, it was nice of her to let us stay at her new home in Grey Lynn last night. I think she liked the box of chocolates we gave her…’
You idiot, Don! Just stick to the presents. Show not tell. Now it’s getting close to Christmas… what should I buy her?
JUNE: ‘What dressing would work?’
DON: ‘Stockings…’
JUNE: ‘What?!’
DON: ‘Oh sorry, June. Do we have… uh, Christmas stockings?’
JUNE: ‘We don’t need them. Anyway, Thousand Island or tartare?’
DON: ‘Thousand Island.’
JUNE: ‘I’ll go for the tartare.’
Why do I bother?
1219 NZST
DON: ‘Hey, did you hear that? Only 140 miles away from the station. I can see bits of ice out there.’
JUNE: ‘Fondue might be a better alternative…’
DON: ‘June, what are you on about?’
JUNE: ‘I’m just thinking if the prawns and scallops don’t work, I’ll make a fondue for emergencies.’
DON: ‘We had fondue last Saturday for my birthday party.’
Forty-five years…
JUNE: ‘Everyone liked it though. It’s only for emergencies anyway.’
Forty-five years old. To think I was only twenty when I got out of Oxford and sailed to Christchurch.
JUNE: ‘That reminds me, we should make sure when Agnes and Craig come around next, we keep him off the scotch after a couple. He gets too opinionated with politics when he goes too far.’
DON: ‘I find him better to talk to when he’s on the scotch.’
JUNE: ‘On second thoughts, we better not see them again. Especially when Agnes talks about her latest health problems. I feel sorry for her, but I don’t want to know about her Baker’s cyst when we’re having the fondue.’
To think I was once in love with this woman. The bank’s Christmas party. 1959. I find it funny she complains about Craig on the drink, when she used to be a demon on it herself. All that night, snuggled up underneath her desk, sharing the tropical punch together. That ginger bouffant hair of hers used to drive me mad. Making jokes about her overbearing mum. Making jokes about the other girls at the typing desk. Dreaming about leaving the city. See the world. A free spirit…
JUNE: ‘Ooh that reminds me, did I leave the slow cooker on before we left?’
DON: ‘You did.’
JUNE: ‘Good, we’ll have a nice casserole waiting for us when we get off the plane tonight.’
It’s too late. I might as well run off with Glenda. She talked about Fiji the other day when she was taking those yearly reports out of the filing cabinet back at work. After she does tomorrow’s minutes, I’ll see if I can persuade her to go somewhere colder for the summer…
JUNE: ‘It’s a good thing we used those carrots in the freezer. I think they were starting to go a bit off.’
Ah, what am I talking about? Glenda’s thirty-four. She’ll go the same way as all of them. Full of lust. Full of ambition. Next thing… wallop! She’ll be talking about what to put in tomorrow’s casserole.
JUNE: ‘Oh, I hope I didn’t put too much Oxo in the mixture.’
Forty-five years. Diploma in Economics at Oxford. Married at twenty-seven. Papanui bank manager at thirty-five. Currently in a secret affair… as far as I know. Balding head. Gaining weight. And in fifteen years time, I’m on the scrapheap. Oh God! I wish this bloody plane would crash… oh hallo! What’s out there?
DON: ‘Hey darling, I think we’re getting close to McMurdo!’
1232 NZST
DON: ‘The amount of ice out there in the sea. We might be able to see some penguins waddling about soon. We’re about forty-three miles from the station.’
JUNE: ‘That peach meringue was really nice…’
DON: ‘What was that?’
JUNE: ‘The peach meringue. With the cream that looks like an icy peak.’
She’s still going on about the damn recipes!
JUNE: ‘I’m sure I can get some tinned peaches at the supermarket.’
I give up! Where’s the in-flight magazine? There it is…
JUNE: ‘Or maybe I should use fresh. I can make a syrup - it’ll be less tacky if it didn’t come out of a tin.’
Even ol’ Scotty looks better in that photo than I do. And he was in his forties. Ah well, didn’t stop the Norwegians from beating him to the…
JUNE: ‘What do you think? Fresh or tinned?’
DON: ‘June, I don’t care!’
JUNE: ‘Don! What’s getting into you?’
DON: ‘I’m sorry but… why are you like this? You never used to be like this!’
JUNE: ‘What are you on about?’
DON: ‘All this crap about cocktail parties and inviting people we don’t care about.’
JUNE: ‘They’re our friends!’
DON: ‘No they’re not. You even admit you can’t stand Agnes and Craig.’
JUNE: ‘But Paul and Ruth…’
DON: ‘Paul is only in the same company as me. Different branches but the same company. Just because we’re both bank managers, doesn’t mean we have to play golf together.’
JUNE: ‘But you love golf?’
DON: ‘No, Paul asked one night if I should join his golf club. Before I could say no, you butted in to say, “of course I’d join!”’
JUNE: ‘It’s good exercise…’
DON: ‘That’s not the point! Why do you have to fuss about every single blasted thing?!’
JUNE: ‘You just don’t understand, do you?’
DON: ‘Understand what?’
JUNE: ‘How much I sacrificed to make us happy! Ever since we lost our…’
Aw, no…
DON: ‘June, I didn’t know…’
JUNE: ‘Just think, he would’ve started Standard 1 next year. In a few more years after that, he would go to high school. Pass his exams. Go into university like his dad…’
DON: ‘Work in a bank. Get married. Manage his own branch… and wonder where it all went wrong.’
JUNE: ‘It didn’t stop you from going back to the bank when I needed you most.’
DON: ‘I didn’t know what to do… what to say… I’d see that look in your eyes and I knew you didn’t want to talk about it.’
JUNE: ‘The last thing I wanted was something you write in your damned speeches to the board meeting. Just a hug… a meaningful kiss goodnight… being honest with one another. We’re not honest about ourselves anymore.’
You don’t know the half of it…
DON: ‘What about the cocktail parties, then?’
JUNE: ‘I guess it’s just to numb the pain. Make it look to others that we got our lives sorted. They make me feel less alone…’
DON: ‘Do I make you feel alone?’
JUNE: ‘You never used to. Like that time we first met. Under my typing desk, we just huddled together. Just the two of us. Ooh! That tropical punch went right to my head. I didn’t feel alone then.’
DON: ‘...’
JUNE: ‘...’
DON: ‘Anyway, what was that peach meringue you were on about?’
JUNE: ‘Oh, it’s from that in-flight menu. It’s called “Peach Erebus”.’
1247 NZST
JUNE: ‘Don, look… I can see McMurdo Sound.’
DON: ‘Right now? It should still be another few minutes away. Let me check the map…’
JUNE: ‘Oh, you and your map reading. I’m taking photos of it now!’
I have to tell her. She’s right, you know. We haven’t been honest with one another.
JUNE: ‘That reminds me, I should get these photos developed before Paul and Ruth pop over. What’s today? I’ll check my diary here…’
Come on Don! Tell her the truth. You need to break it off with Glenda. You still love June, don’t you? Of course you do! Well, end 1979 with no secrets left. Start a new decade with new values, healthier resolutions… and for heaven’s sakes, lose that belly!
JUNE: ‘November 28th… it’s a Wednesday. I’ll pop over to the pharmacy first thing tomorrow morning…’
What if she doesn’t want to talk to me anymore? Maybe I should save it until the end of the flight. Don, what are you thinking?! Leave it now and you’ll just chicken out! No time like the present. And if she leaves you, well that’s the risk you have to take. Do it now!
JUNE: ‘Maybe the photos will convince Paul to buy tickets for him and Ruth next year. I don’t know how long these Antarctic flights will last.’
DON: ‘June, I need to tell you something…’
JUNE: ‘Can it wait ‘til later? We’re about to go over McMurdo Station.’
DON: ‘No, it’s very important…’
JUNE: ‘It’s a shame I can’t see the station with all that cloud down there…’
DON: ‘Just listen to me!’
JUNE: ‘Alright! Settle down! Now what is it?’
DON: ‘June… I’ve been having an aff -’
