David Trubridge has been chosen as the designer for the Perfume Point sculpture commemorating the 1932 sinking of a launch during which 10 men drowned. The Doris, which had 31 men on board, collided with a lighter vessel, the Tu Atu late at night on 28 December 1932. Quick reactions from those aboard a nearby tugboat, the Coralie, and those onboard a lifeboat launched from the Tu Atu, meant most, but not all, were able to be saved. Coming so soon after the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake when the dead men’s families were still trying to rebuild their lives meant the sinking was a terrible blow not just for them, but for Napier. Upon considering the project, David Trubridge wanted people to engage with the site and memorial and to see them exploring the story, thinking about what life was like on those launches cutting across the bay in the night. It’s an opportunity for descendants to stand near where their ancestors would have been and to speak to them.

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