Lower Thames Street Once a Hole

Graeme Ferris notes changes in harbour features since the 1860s.

We go back in time, no breakwater, harbour or wharves, not even many boats, only the fairly small Oamaru township nestling among tussock and scattered lagoons shimmering in the 1860's morning sunlight. No apparent problems. It all sounds pretty good to me.

Move on a hundred and fifty years or so to an expensive breakwater, decaying wharves, a shoaling harbour; the big words of the day: coastal erosion. Some claim that if the breakwater goes so will the town of Oamaru. While a breach in the structure would lessen the protection of the harbour, surely nothing serious would happen to the town. Most of it was here before the breakwater.

When I was a lad kicking stones about the harbour area the oldies told of great mounds of shingle, natural littoral drift, forming our immediate seafront and protecting the town area prior to the breakwater and the north mole construction.

Early immigrants on arrival, having survived the oceans and coastal surf, were then faced with crossing the seldom raging waters of the Oamaru creek. This meandering creek made its way to a four acre lagoon with its own small island situated on the landward side of the large mounds of protective coastal shingle. From the lagoon the outlet flowed southerly behind the shingle banks to the sea near what pioneer Edward Shortland described as the "spring of the cape".

The whole area east of Tyne Street was known as The Esplanade and in the early days there were no buildings there. Perhaps the oldies knew something, they who also claimed that large amounts of this foreshore shingle was used to fill in the vast hole that existed north of the creek where lower Thames Street now lies.

International consultants say that our ageing breakwater is only protecting our harbour and has little or no influence on coastal erosion or protection.

Breakwater or no breakwater I think Oamaru is destined to remain here for a long time yet, but I have been known to be wrong, so keep those coracles handy just in case.