Ministry of Transport Files - Whangapoua

These files from the Ministry of Transport deal mainly with the administrative aspects of structures, reclamations, power, telephone, and pipeline crossings of waterways around the marine foreshore and in navigable rivers and lakes. There is not a lot of environmental information in these files but occasionally there is a copy of a report that deals with the environmental aspects of a structure. In about 1964 the Ministry of Transport (MOT) took over the role of licensing structures on the foreshore from the Marine Department (MD) and employed the Ministry of Works and Development (MWD) as its environmental advisers. Reports from the MWD therefore contain much of the environmental information available in these files. Purpose: This dataset provides a brief discussion of coastal information contained within historical Ministry of Transport files, collected during a review commissioned by Environment Waikato as part of the Coastal Database project. The Ministry of Transport (MoT) was responsible for the administration of structures in the CMA and in navigable rivers and lakes from 1964 to 1997. These files are now held in Environment Waikato’s archives. These files contain useful information on the history and legal status of existing coastal structures.

54/14/7/3: Sand and Shingle, Whangapoua 1966. The file indicates that Winstones Aggregates Ltd. had an exclusive mining licence for this area that prevented others from extracting from the area. Parry Brothers Ltd wanted to extract “reasonable quantities”, and in March 1967 applied for 2,400 yd3 and suggested that the bar offshore at Otama Beach could be an alternative site when there were unfavourable winds at Whangapoua. Parry Brothers were shipping fertiliser to Whitianga from Auckland and wanted the sand as a back load. Offshore sand mining at Otama Beach was turned down 1967. 54/14/7/8: Sand and Shingle Whangapoua harbour 1963. Parry Brothers Ltd sounded the bar in 1963 and found the depth no more than 6 feet even with a 9’ 3” tide. They also found sand deposits inside the harbour to the north and south of the entrance. There is an indication that large quantities had been removed in the past. This latest loss of sand occurred when mining was not taking place. MoT prosecuted Auckland Water Transport for illegal removal of material. Permits issued to Winstones had apparently expired in 1963. Only Parry Brothers Ltd had a license in 1965. It seems that Winstones had the sole rights to mining Whangapoua from 1928 to 1963. Auckland Water Transport Ltd applied for 4,000 yd3 in 1965. MoT finally decided not to prosecute. The application to remove material was advertised. Local Maori were in the process of developing and selling sections on adjacent Whangapoua Beach, and objected to the proposal. By 1966 Auckland Water Transport was requesting 20,000 yd3. They also put in an application to take a trial load from Cape Jackson but this was declined. 54/14/49: Removal of Material Whangapoua. A telegram in June 1928 to the Marine Dept notified that Craigs and Winstones had purchased the owner’s interest in sand deposits at Whangapoua. They thus applied to the secretary of Marine for an order in council to remove said sand. The owner, Mr Denise sold the interest for 14 years. The secretary for marine was keen to have the sand mined as it was going to improve the harbour entrance. Winstones then sub-let the mining to A W Bryant. There is a letter on file dated February 1929 from Alberta McLean complaining sand miners were tying up to Pohutukawa trees on New Chums Beach and was worried that the sand removal would ruin the development she had planned for the land behind the beach. Mrs McLean had bought the land off Mr Denise. New Chum’s beach was outside the licence area. The license covered part of the Matarangi Spit and the harbour entrance and the seabed off Whangapoua Beach. Note: at this time Whangapoua beach was Maori Land. Winstones denied that any of the scows had landed at New Chums Beach. Mrs McLean also accused the miners of stripping the Kauri lining out of a house on her property, back from the beach, but this was denied by Winstones. The mining license renewed to 1957. There is no record on this file of sand volume limits. Winstones paid a minimum royalty of £25-00-00 ($50) annually. This works out at 2,000 yds3/yr. The Rabone (1950) report indicates that they were officially taking 5,000 yds3/yr and that the license was for 7 years at that time. By 1950, the inner Whangapoua Harbour was excluded, as was offshore of Whangapoua Beach. In 1973 there was a complaint from a Whangapoua local that there was sand removal from Whangapoua Beach. However when the complaint was investigated the locals seemed unaware of any illegal sand removals. All mining licenses were declined 1973. The only remaining license at this time was for the harbour entrance, and by 1979 objections were being made to this. File ends with the observation that coastal developments were slowly but surely closing all sources of cheap building sand. 54/19/70: Foreshores, Bridges, Mapauriki Stream Whangapoua 1971. No environmental information. 54/44/788: Marine Farm, Hawkeswood, Whangapoua Harbour 1983. 54/44/789: Marine Farm, Bright Whangapoua Harbour 1983. 54/1/525: Whangapoua Harbour Boat Ramp. Ramp by oyster farm. TCDC file 5/6/1 and V 8/7. 54/2/757: Jetty Whangapoua harbour. No environmental information. 54/26/0: Wildlife refuge Omara Spit 1986. The oxidation ponds intruded into the wildlife refuge just below HWST.

Whangapoua Estuary, Whangapoua, Matarangi (Omara) and New Chums Beaches

1960 to 1984 with parts of earlier files back to 1920s.

Frequency of collection: Infrequent/irregular

Only includes information available on specific files. Important to note that Ministry of Works files contain further environmental information relating to these files. Completeness: Many files and pieces of information from the files are missing. Many engineer's reports are missing from the files held by Environment Waikato.

Physical files Digital Format: n/a

Useful historical information about sand mining and development in the area.

Freely available in EW archives Sensitivity/Confidentiality: No confidentiality, public information

Files closed. Include a note where this record continues after end date of file where possible – e.g. Dept of Conservation files. These files have been continued where appropriate but have been amalgamated and given a new file number by DOC making sourcing more recent information difficult.

Additional comments: Jetties and Wharves There were two types of jetties and wharves; those built for catching Whitebait, and the fishing boat jetty. As the local fishing industry developed, there was a steady increase in requests for licenses for jetties to load and unload fishing boats. Records in the files indicate that there was either a shortage of hardwood for jetty piles or the locals preferred to rely on piles made from Manuka or Kanuka. This is especially noticeable of the piles used for fishing boat jetties. As the fishing fleet grew so did the demand for fish processing facilities on shore. The increased number of requests for jetties for commercial fishing probably reflects the increased government investment in the fishing industry in the 1960s and 1970s. Boat ramps These appear associated with two activities. Commercial fishing or the storage of a boat used occasionally. As roads improved and boat-building materials became lighter the trailed boat became more popular. This in turn put pressure on local County Councils to either build boat ramps or license boat ramps to be built by for fishing or Boat clubs to access the water. After a burst of activity in the 1960s and 1970s many clubs were wound up leaving the structure the responsibility of the local Council. Sand and Shingle Mining. The winning of aggregate from the foreshore is noticeable as an early occupation of coastal freighters, particularly scows. Beach sediments did not need crushing for the most part and were therefore in high demand as cheap roading material, especially for the growing Auckland market. Where shingle was not readily available, shell material was used for a road surfacing material. Most of the files stored at Environment Waikato start in the 1960s or later and refer to earlier files about the same beaches. Therefore in Archives in either Auckland or Wellington there are probably earlier files outlining activities prior to 1960. There is also a reference to a previous ban on sand mining along the west coast of the Coromandel prior to 1960. This may refer to changes that were enacted after the Rabone Report of 1950. The sand mining applications also highlight the importance of coastal traffic right up to the 1960s and 1970s. Fertiliser was shipped to Whitianga wharf from Auckland and Tauranga and scows took a back load of sand from Whangapoua Harbour entrance to Auckland to lower their costs. Mining licences were also pursued at other beaches such as Otama so that scows could load under differing wind and wave conditions. Marine Farming The Marine Farming Act was passed in 1971 but it was only towards the end of the 1970s that marine farming began to be developed in the area around Coromandel Harbour. Early applications were met with strong resistance by Auckland boat users who thought that marine farms would interfere with their recreation along the Coromandel west coast, especially within Coromandel Harbour. As the development of marine farms became accepted there were fewer objections and the industry became well established. The Thames Coromandel District Council (TCDC) commissioned a study to determine sites suitable for marine farming. This report also indicated where marine farming should not take place and became the main planning document for further coastal development. Related information: All these files are related to Ministry of Works and Development files as the MWD was the adviser to MOT.