An Australian mother who lost her husband and daughter in the 2019 Whakaari/White Island eruption says she wants to move to New Zealand, describing an emotional connection to the country and the Bay of Plenty community that supported her family.
Marie Browitt was the only member of her family to remain on board the Ovation of the Seas cruise ship while her husband Paul, 55, and youngest daughter Krystal, 21, joined a tour to the active volcano off Whakatāne on December 9, 2019.
Both were killed when the volcano erupted, along with 20 others. Seventeen of those killed were Australians.
Browitt’s eldest daughter, Steph, survived but suffered severe burns to more than 70% of her body and spent six months in intensive care at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital.
Marie and Steph were recently invited back to Whakatāne, where they met with first responders and local helicopter pilots who carried out rescues after the eruption – including the pilot who recovered Krystal from the island.
Commercial rescue flights were initially deemed too dangerous because of volcanic conditions, prompting several local pilots to fly to the island independently to assist the injured.
"I don't know what it was about the beautiful people, the warmth that we were immersed in and the love that surrounded us, but I felt some sort of peace," Marie told 60 Minutes Australia.
For Marie, the visit to Whakatāne answered questions that had been haunting her – who was the last person to hold her daughter? Who picked her up off the island?
New Zealand and the people of the Bay of Plenty gave her a sense of peace, she added.
"I came back different. I can't explain it, I can't put it to words. I want to go back. I wished I could live there so I could feel close to my child. I feel a pull to this island. I really do."
Today Whakaari Management Limited and five other parties were sentenced for health and safety failures leading up to the deadly 2019 eruption. (Source: 1News)
The Whakaari/White Island eruption on December 9, 2019 killed 22 people in one of New Zealand's deadliest volcanic disasters.
WorkSafe NZ charged the owners of the island and multiple tour operators as well as government and scientific agencies under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 for failing to ensure the health and safety of workers and others.
In March 2024, Judge Evangelos Thomas imposed a total of NZ$10.21 million in reparations and NZ$2 million in fines on the six defendants Whakaari Management Limited, White Island Tours, Volcanic Air Safaris, Kahu Limited, Aerius, and GNS Science.
In February 2025, Justice Simon Moore overturned Whakaari Management Limited's conviction.
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