Tucked away in the Ruru Lawn Cemetery is a memorial to the victims of the Ballantynes Fire in 1947.
The fire at Ballantynes department store, in central Christchurch, claimed the lives of 41 people and was the biggest fire in New Zealand’s history. All the victims of the fire were staff members, who were unable to escape the burning buildings.
A civic funeral at the Christchurch Cathedral was held for the victims. The funeral procession was so long that before the last car left the square, the first one was arriving here at at the Cemetery. People lined the streets all along the procession’s route and approximately 10,000 people attended the graveside service.
Funeral for the fire victims. Image source: www.teara.govt.nz
A commission of inquiry found that a number of factors contributed to the disaster, including the fire service’s failure to act effectively and promptly, an unsafe building which did not meet building regulations, a lack of emergency plans and fire alarms, and the store management who did not take the fire seriously.
The name of this cache refers to the memorial garden in the Cemetery. The name also refers to the novel based on the fire, ‘Gardens of Fire’ by Steven Eldrid-Grigg – recommended reading for anyone who is interested in the history of this tragedy.
The cache is a small camouflaged pill container. There is no need to destroy any vegetation to find it. Please hide well