1991: The Big Dig
January 27, 2025
By AHNZ
The Big Dig, February 11, 1991, at Mangawai harbour. An Anarchist expression of local pride against the State.
Mangawai (aka Mangawhai) is no stranger to storms. A severe storm in 1978, compounded by Cyclone Bola in 1987, had silted up the harbour to the point of it becoming a polluted and unswimmable cesspool.
The State (DOC, Local, and Regional government) did nothing and forbade anyone else from trying.
The Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society formed up. Armed with over 40 excavating machines and in defiance of council opposition, a large team of volunteers gathered at the Mangawhai lagoon. Over four days they laboured to reopen the original harbour entrance.
The Mangawhai community went against bureaucracy undo the damage of violent storms. They battled entropy for another 5 years to, finally, achieve victory over the elements and over the pernicious State.
“This 102 page full colour record tells how the Mangawhai community went against bureaucracy to reopen the sand blocked harbour entrance which had been ravaged by storms. ‘The Big Dig’ begun early one morning in February 1991, no permits, and full steam ahead. Over the years permits were gained as blockages continued, the work was ongoing and after five and a half years there were still a handful of men working on it. June 1996 they achieved the massive undertaking – believed to be a world first. This is an important read for all who have moved to the area in the past 24 years, as Mangawhai harbour would have remained a polluted waterway, having no course for foul water to escape. Warning signs were posted against swimming in the river.” – blurb for They Dared The Impossible, Bev Ross (2007,) Mangawhai Museum, Facebook (2020)
“…the dramatic “Big Dig” in 1991. As a result of a severe storm in 1978, compounded by Cyclone Bola in 1987, our harbour was in poor condition, with multiple shallow harbour entrances along the Mangawhai Spit and the original harbour entrance silted up. The harbour was dying and, faced with inaction from local and regional councils and the Department of Conservation, a determined group of local men took the initiative to rescue the harbour and close the rogue breaches, using 40 bulldozers, diggers, scrapers, tractors and other sand moving equipment. Over 4 long days these men and their machines were able to reopen the original harbour entrance and repair the Mangawhai Spit. Their success was short-lived, as the entrance silted up again, but the Big Dig” was the catalyst for the Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society to be formed, and their 5 year community project to rescue our harbour. This project culminated 20 years ago, on 29 June 1996, with the completion of the man-made bund wall along the harbour side of the Mangawhai Spit.” – Mangawhai Museum, Facebook (2016)
Another mighty storm hit Mangawai on the morning of 26 January, 2025, which will raise the spirit of 1991 again.
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Image ref. Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society
Note: This was the time of the National 4.0 Ministry. The local MP Lockwood Smith
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