Books: Gisborne's Battle For a Harbour, Tauranga in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty for sale
The Gisborne Harbour Board published this history of the port in 1984 to mark the centenary of its constitution. As the board's then chairman pointed out in his foreward, in the mid years of the 1800s the Gisborne/Poverty Bay region was regarded by most NZers as the"last frontier."This isolation made shipping the only practical access to the area. Initially a river port was developed, capable of handling coastal cargo and passenger traffic, with the occasional larger vessels anchoring in the roadstead, a hazardous location in stormy conditions. By the 1880s the river harbour was considerable improved, with a concrete block breakwater leading to additional berthage and increased safety. In 1916 Gisborne's port was almost completely destroyed by flooding, the channel virtually unusable owing to silting. That was when the real battle for a harbour began. Several engineering proposals were considered before work of a new harbour protected by breakwaters and adjacent to the former riverr entrance was begun in 1923. Completion of the new port was badly timed. These were Depression days and the shipping monopoly for passegers and cagro was being challenged by road and rail. However, the port of Gisborne survived the major changes to maritime technology and to policies, afloat and ashore. Gisborne faced and met all the challenges as trades and useage fluctuated and the author covers the port's successes and disappointments in a forthright, objective and inclusive record of the port, where the experiernces were similar to those at a number of NZ's smaller harbours. First edition of 1984, 152 pages including two appendices, abbreviations, footnotes, bibliography and index, illustrated throughout with b/w photographs, port plans and maps. Black hard covers with gilt spine titles are NF, ditto the text block and the pictorial DJ, no inscriptions. Size: 21cm By 15cm
Author
Philip Whyte
Title
Gisborne's Battle For a Harbour
Publisher name
Gisborne Harbour Board, Gisborne, NZ
Shipping time
2 - 4 days
Publication year
1984
Edition
First edition
Binding type
Hard cover
Vendor name
BOPBooks
Vendor rating
Key words
New Zealand, Port Development, Gisborne, East Coast, North Island, Shipping, Local Politics, Engineering, History
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