2017 Whanganui River Annual

It is with pleasure that I present to you this latest annual. In it, you will Find many interesting stories on a wide variety of subjects. These have come from various sources: some stories are recent, others happened years ago.

In Failed farming (page 5), you will read that the Mangapurua area was not the only place on the river where farmers had to walk off their lands. In his books, Green Kiwi and Spin oft the Wheel, Temple Sutherland tells of the struggles of farmers in the trace-element-lacking pumice lands of the upper Whanganui River.

On page 52, you will read about how close Whanganui was to having a hydro dam built just 50 km upstream from the city. Fortunately, it was found that cheaper electricity could be obtained from other sources and the proposal was allowed to die quietly, but not after a lot of site investigation at Atene.

For light relief the story on page 35 about a court case concerning the SS Stormbird and the Town Bridge operator describes a ridiculous waste of court time. But it is also interesting as it describes the way in which the Town Bridge swing span operated..