Massey Memorial, White marble memorial on Point Halswell, Wellington City, New Zealand.
Massey Memorial is a marble monument on Point Halswell in Wellington consisting of seven columns arranged in a semicircle. A marble pathway leads from this colonnade down to an underground chamber situated beneath a central dome.
Massey died in office in 1925, and Parliament passed the Massey Burial-ground Act, allocating 0.8 hectares at Point Halswell that had been used for defence in World War I. A fort became the crypt and a gun pit was lined with marble as the vault. The memorial was completed in 1930 at a cost of £15,000, mostly raised by public subscription.
Massey died in office in 1925, and the site was chosen at Point Halswell on land used for defence during the First World War. Parliament passed the Massey Burial-ground Act to set aside 0.8 hectares for him and his widow Christina, who is buried here too. The memorial appears as the setting of the final fight in the 2002 film Tongan Ninja.
The memorial stands at the end of Massey Road on Point Halswell, at the tip of the Miramar Peninsula; the approach is by road, and the site sits on open ground above the harbour. The semicircle of columns and the marble walk to the crypt entrance are outdoors, so the visit is on foot and exposed to Wellington's wind.
The memorial was built on the site of a World War I fort, with the original gun pit converted into a marble-lined vault beneath the dome. This transformation merges military history with a place of remembrance.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,670 contributors worldwide.