1925: Waitangi Oil Springs
June 1, 2019
By AHNZ
I stumbled upon a series of photos showing oil feilds at Waitangi in the twenties. The University of Wisconsen has the pictures, taken by Frederick G Clap in 1925. Clapp was a American petroleum geologist. Because of my lack of experience in oil discovery I keep on relating this to The Ballad of Jed Clampett!
Some of the captions that caught my attention were…
Burning oil springs at Waitangi; Waitangi, Northland (administrative division)
Waitangi oil well showing the Messrs. Poole (Senior and junior) with horses. New Zealand. (1925); ; Waitangi, Northland (administrative division)
An oil spring, Waitangi; Northland (administrative division)
Old Waitangi oil well. New Zealand. (1925); Northland (administrative division); Northland (administrative division)
A Fleeting Glimpse at Conspiracy
“Wait, what!?” says I. As well as being the famous historical settlement that gave its name to the constitutional Treaty of Wantangi…as well as being a tourist entrapment…it’s an oil field!
No wonder Governor General Bledisloe bought it all up in 1932! Under the guise of gifting the land to the people of New Zealand, the rascal was making himself an oil fortune! Was he?
The other Waitangi
Sorry to reject an exciting history conspiracy just as it was bubbling out of the ground but we’re going to have to let this one go.
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee have simply incorrectly marked about half of their photos. They made the understandable mistake that Waitangi referred to the famous Northland site. Actually, Clap was on the East Coast where oil reserves are known to us today. So much for a secret gubernamental energy conspiracy beneith the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.
There are about 11 Waitangi place names in New Zealand.
I suppose I should tell the Yanks to fix their captions. Alas.
—
ref. Previous post: 1934: First Waitangi Day
image ref. Clapp photos; American Geographical Society Library Digital Photo Archive – Oceania; University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
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