Gabor Toth: historian on the headstone mysteriously appearing on Phyllis Symons' grave decades after murder

Almost a century after Phillis Symons was murdered and buried in an unmarked Karori grave, a headstone mysteriously appeared.

Symons, 17 and pregnant, was killed by George Errol Coats in June 1931 and buried - some say alive - in the dirt excavated to build the Mt Victoria tunnel, where her body was later discovered.

Historian Gabor Toth says it's a mystery as to how the headstone got there.

"The fact that her grave has been unmarked has been remarked upon over the years - I do know that the Friends of Karori Cemetery, a group that got going about five or six years ago were actively engaging with Phyllis Symons' family over in Australia and they were working towards getting a gravestone...but this isn't it."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Staying in Wellington. There is a headstone that suddenly appeared
at the grave of Phillis Simmons in Wellington and nobody
knows how it got there now. Philip Simmons was killed
in nineteen thirty one when she was seventeen and pregnant.
Her boyfriend killed her and she was laid to rest
in an unmarked grave in Karori in the cemetery and
a family don't know how the headstone got there, and
neither does Wellington City Council Garble tot Taught is a

(00:21):
Wellington historian and with me with me now, High Garble.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello, good evening, love you to be with you.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
It's great to chat to you. Does she have living family?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Does she over in Australia. She obviously left no descendants
because she died at the age it was murdered at
the age of seventeen, But she did have siblings and
over the years they slowly migrated over to Australia where
they remain today.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Who would have done this if her family doesn't know
that it has nothing to do with it.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
It's really really interesting. I mean, the fact that her
grave has been unmarked has been remarked upon over the years.
I do know that the Friends of the Karori Semetry,
a group that got going about five or six years ago.
We're actively engaging with Phyllis Simmons's family over in Australia
and they we're working towards getting it, getting a gravestone

(01:13):
of some type put on the grave of with the permission.
But this isn't it. This had no buy in from them,
and so how it's kind of appeared is a little
bit of a mystery.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
It's kind of nice though, don't you think that these
kinds of historical injustices have been repaired? Don't you think.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
It is quite nice? But look, you really can't go
putting graves on other people's gravestones on other people's graves
without their permission. You know, no permit was issue family,
can you know? So going through the family, going through
the proper channels that sort of would have been, that
would would have been it is a bit of a

(01:51):
no no. I mean. The thing is is that if
you've ever gone through Coarori symmetry, you will see hundreds,
if not thousands, of unmarked graves everywhere where. You see
an empty plot of grass and you think, oh, that
looks like a lovely plot. I wonder if that's still available.
It's a nice spot. I'd like to be buried there. No,
there's someone under there. The cemetery is completely full. But

(02:14):
back in those days it was really expensive. The graves
some of you may be familiar with them. They are
full length masonry concrete graves. They were expensive items and
when you put in the include the engravings as well
as the grave headstone, they were really expensive. Now for
the Simmons came from a very humble background. They weren't wealthy,
very working class. They just really didn't have the kind

(02:35):
of money that was needed and neither did hundreds of
other families that are buried there in Calori Semetry.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Garble, it's good to talk to you. Thank you, mate, Garble,
taught Wellington Historian. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive,
listen live to news Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays,
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