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Story: Death rates and life expectancy

Monument to flu victims

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Monument to flu victims

This carved wooden memorial was erected at Te Koura marae, between Taumarunui and Ōngarue, in memory of those who died in the 1918 influenza pandemic. The Māori death rate was more than eight times that for Pākehā.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Albert Percy Godber Collection (PA-Group-00048)

Reference: APG-0786-1/2-G

by Albert Percy Godber

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Ian Pool, Death rates and life expectancy – Māori epidemiological transition, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/26595/monument-to-flu-victims (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Ian Pool, published 19 April 2011.