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Story: Roads

Motorway protest

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Motorway protest

Protesters walk along a section of Wellington’s urban motorway, constructed during the 1960s and 1970s. The route passed through the historic Bolton Street Cemetery and more than 3,700 graves were removed. Most of the remains were interred in a mass grave called the Early Settlers Memorial Lawn – referred to in the sign ‘The city’s founders turned in their graves for this’.

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How to cite this page

Carl Walrond, Roads – Traffic on the roads, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/23311/motorway-protest (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Carl Walrond, published 2 March 2010, updated 1 March 2016.