Skip to main content

Story: Air crashes

‘Erebus voices’

The Mountain

I am here beside my brother, Terror.
I am the place of human error.

I am beauty and cloud, and I am sorrow;
I am tears which you will keep tomorrow.

I am the sky and the exhausting gale.
I am the place of ice. I am the debris trail.

I am as far as you can see.
I am the place of memory.

And I am still a hand, a fingertip, a ring.
I am what there is no forgetting.

I am the one with truly broken heart.
I watched them fall, and freeze, and break apart.

The Dead

We fell.

Yet we were loved and we are lifted.

We froze.

Yet we were loved and we are warm.

We broke apart.

Yet we are here and we are whole.

In 2004, on the 25th anniversary of the Erebus disaster, a commemorative ceremony was held at Scott Base. During the service this poem by New Zealand poet Bill Manhire was read by Sir Edmund Hillary, who had lost his close friend Peter Mulgrew in the crash.

Hear Bill Manhire reading this poem (YouTube)

Using this item

Victoria University Press

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Nancy Swarbrick, Air crashes – Causes and consequences, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/document/6711/erebus-voices (accessed 25 June 2026).

Story by Nancy Swarbrick, published 2 March 2009.