Hauraki Catchment Board Files – Tairua/Pauanui

The Hauraki Catchment Board was established under the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Act 1941 (and amendments). This Act was labelled ‘An Act to make provision for the conservation of soil resources and for the prevention of damage by erosion, and to make better provision with respect to the protection of property from damage by floods’. The first Catchment Boards were set up in 1943 and the Hauraki Catchment Board was established in 1947. The Board consisted of a maximum of 16 members, several governmental representatives from the: Ministry of Works and Development, Department of Lands and Survey, N. Z. Forest Service (after 1961), Department of Agriculture, and the majority of whom were elected from the local community. After 1958 the Farm Advisory Officers of the Department of Agriculture were transferred to the Ministry of Works and Development. Under the 1941 Act, Catchment Authorities were made responsible for flood control, drainage, soil conservation and controlling erosion. The administrative boundaries were generally catchment boundaries so that the Catchment Board's boundaries usually did not coincide with the Local County boundaries. Counties could also opt out of a Board's control, as in Coromandel where north of the Tararu and Tairua River Catchments the Act was administered by the Ministry of Works. The Water and Soil Conservation Act 1967 (and amendments), gave Catchment Authorities the dual role of regional water boards. As a result they became responsible for administering the water resources of the region. This involved the issuing of water rights for the take and discharge of water and the drawing up of water allocation plans for various users. The reform of the LA’s led to the formation of Regional Councils and as a consequence of this reform many Catchment Boards were amalgamated into wider regions where the political boundaries as opposed to catchment boundaries were used to define regions. The Hauraki Catchment Board was thus amalgamated into the Waikato Region, as was the northern part of the Coromandel Peninsula. Early file records for the northern part of the Coromandel Peninsula are contained in the files of Coromandel County and Ministry of Works Auckland (files cover the early part of the period) and later Hamilton. The file records for the southern part of the Coromandel Peninsula, south of Tararu and Tairua south to Waihi, are to be found in the Thames County records and also the Hauraki Catchment Board files. The early coastal records often refer to wharf structures, construction and maintenance as there was initially little roading present. However, with the development of roads in this area the beaches became a ready source of roading aggregate, particularly the shingle beaches of the Coromandel west coast. In 1922, a survey of the condition of the beaches used for shingle extraction indicated that many were over exploited. This resulted in a recommendation that the Marine Department close all beaches for extraction, south of a line between Long Bay (Auckland) and the Colville Channel. This effectively closed the Coromandel west coast beaches to sand extraction. The removal of sand and shingle for local use, particularly roading, continued around the Peninsula into the 1980s. Some sand was taken from the mouth of Whangapoua Harbour by dredging the ebb tide bar. This material was sold in Auckland. Similarly, sand was removed from the Maori Land block at the South end of Whiritoa Beach with the consent of the Maori Trustee. This material was also sold in Auckland. The majority of the Hauraki Catchment Board file notes centre around the problems with coastal development. Levelling dunes to create building sites was one problem, but the more controversial aspect was the width of the building set back from the high water mark (HWM). In 1984 the Hauraki Board came up with some guidelines for future developments which were superseded in a report by Environment Waikato (2002). Purpose: See data abstract below

See attached file for a full description of relevant file content. Files include: 1/22/0 Shingle from water courses. Volume 2. 1957- Shingle extraction from rivers - including regulations and agency responsibilities. Applications from Ministry of Works for shingle extraction from Tairua River (1975) Saw mill application 1979. Report on sand mining in the Coromandel Peninsula (Works file 47/16) - HCB is to phase out mining in any area suspected of being a closed system or where there is insufficient information about the resource. There are a series of applications to mine sand from the entrance of Whangamata Harbour, Tairua Harbour, Whitianga Harbour and the Katikati entrance to Tauranga Harbour. From late 1982 through to 1984 the Board were conducting a sand and shingle resource assessment for the whole of their region. 2/11/0 Eastern Catchments. Parts of Thames and Ohinemuri Counties. Volume 3. June 1974 - application to build a Marina at Tairua. 28 August 1974. A report entitled “Foredune erosion and levelling foredunes, Coromandel Peninsula with particular reference to Pauanui” was released. September 1974: proposal to subdivide at Tairua. 2/11/0 Eastern Catchments–Parts of Ohinemuri and Thames Counties Volume 2. Report period 1971–1974. 1971 - diversion of Grahams Creek - issues. Flood in Tairua River 9 March 1972. Photographs supplied by Thames County Engineer. April 1972: the Board obtained photographs of the historic 1966 flood in the Tairua River. 19-22 June: Report by J.G. Gibb on the condition of Buffalo Beach, Cooks Beach, Tairua, Whiritoa and Waihi beaches together with comments on the condition of the Tairua, Wharekawa and Whangamata estuaries. 2/11/0 Eastern Catchments: Parts Thames and Ohinemuri Counties. Flood of 8 March 1962 second or third highest flood in the previous 26–30 years. Largest flood was that of Jan-Feb 1936. August 1964: Erosion along the bank of the Tairua Estuary from Pepe bridge eastwards along Manaia Road. May 1969: The Pepe Estuary marine playground proposal.

Tairua Ocean Beach, Pauanui Beach and Tairua Harbour.

1957-1982

Irregular data collection. Relevant information extracted from historic files.

Quality variable Gaps in collection: Some gaps in data collection. Data quality: Quality variable

Hard copy written files

No confidentiality - publicly available

Files closed

Report by J.G. Gibb