Fidelis Memorial (1975)

The Fidelis Memorial was unveiled on 10 August 1975 - a year after the loss of the vessel & its crew. The four men set off for on a fishing trip on Saturday 10 August 1974 and were expected back late afternoon. The alarm was raised late in the day and two unsuccessful air searches were carried out that evening. A huge search and rescue mission swung into action the following day, both air and on land. Finally, on Monday 12 August, the crew of an RNZAF Dakota spotted the partly submerged Fidelis. The Taranaki Herald reported the following day that the search "had gripped South Taranaki' with the community fully engaged in trying to locate any possible survivors. 

By the end of the week none of the men had been found, but divers were being employed in the search and shore-side vigils were in place.  

On 18 August 1974 nearly 800 people attended a memorial service for the men held at the Hāwera Community Centre.

Fifty years on from the tragedy, descendants of the men gathered at Ohawe Beach to remember the men lost that day. 

The plaque reads:

FIDELIS

This monument is erected

to the memory of the

crew of the Fidelis

fishing boat lost at sea

off Ohawe Beach 10th

August 1974 and to pay

tribute to the sustained

and exhaustive efforts

by so many people for

the missing men

[In memory of

Wallis (Wally) Puano Hawe

Tangata Tutai (Tai) Eraio

Haki (Jack)Tangira Skipper

Earl Te Maungu Parata]

E whakamaharatanga tenei

mo nga tangata i ngaro

irunga ite Fidelis ite

moana i Ohawe tekau nga

ra o Akuhata 1974. E tohu

aroha hoki ki nga iwi katoa

i whakapou i o ratou

whakaaoro ite kimi i o

ratou tinana. Nui atu te

whakamoemiti ki a ratou.

______

[Rarotongan] 

Kua akatuia teia toka

akamaaraanga no te au

tangata toko a tei ngaro

i roto i te poti Fidelis

i Ohawe Beach i ra 10

Aukute 1974 e pera katoa kia

akameitaki ia te maatanga

o te au tangata te

tauturu i te kimianga. I te

tuatau o te tumatetenga

_______

Haere e tama ma ki o koutou tipuna, haere ki to tatou ariki,

nana nei tatou i hanga, a, nana ano i tiki mai, kia whakapainga tona ingoa