"Gisborne Photo News" - 10Th Anniversary - 1954-1964 A Decade Of Change In The Gisborne Scene

Ten years ago, when "Gisborne Photo News" was first published, Yvette Williams had just broken the world record for the women's broad jump...at Childers Road Reserve. Three local All Blacks, White, Bagley and Fitzgerald, were home from the U.K. tour. In Awapuni Road, a transient factory was making 21-inch pipes to carry the borough's water from Waingake. On the Waipaoa River, bulldozers were building the stopbanks which were to give Gisborne and the flats security from flooding. At Matawhero, engineers were sizing up the problems of building a new and better bridge over the big river. (They were not to know then how many unforeseen difficulties lay ahead). In front of the Freezing Works at Kaiti, more bulldozers were at work digging out sticky blue "pug" to make way for a new wharf. At Waikanae Beach, the new pavilion was reaching completion. In the old Borough Council Chambers in Read's Quay, a new Mayor, Harry Barker, was settling in to his second term of office. He doubted whether "Photo News" could succeed because "it might run out of pictures". But "Photo News" is still going strong....and Mr Barker is still the Mayor.

Since then, Gisborne has seen a steady flow of progress in material things, especially in roading, buildings, and community amenities. The pictures which follow on this and the next 15 pages, selected from negatives in the "Photo News" files, illustrate this progress over an eventful decade.

1954

St. Mary's renovations begin

Elgin School built

Workman making pipes for the pipeline

Building banks on the Waipaoa

Building the new wharf at Kaiti

New L.D.S. church in Cochrane Street

Remember the Transit Camp?

The Testing Station opened

Down came the poplars in the Gardens

The Pavilion at Waikanae Beach was nearing completion

1955

New Nurses' Home at Cook Hospital began to climb skywards

Opening ceremony for St. Mary's

Bank of N.Z. as it was

The Firemen's Flats were a-building

State Houses sprang up in Mangapapa

Columbine Hosiery added a new wing

Work started on Matawhero bridge

The Museum and Art Gallery opened

First game on Rugby Park

Park Golf Club's new pavilion

Yachting Pavilion going up at Kaiti

Gisborne Declared A City

1956

New City Council Chambers under construction

First pile for Lytton Road Bridge

Start made with pile driving on Butler's Wall

Nurses' Home was looking impressive

Skating Rink opened

City Status was celebrated with a grand procession

Sketch of the new William Pettie Bridge, for which plans were complete. (Shelved later, it still isn't built).

New workshops for the Harbour Board

Riverdale School started

Gisborne Hotel given a face-lift

New Girls' High School now in use

Methodist Church approaching completion

Williams and Kettle reconstruction

1957

Farm Products' new building

War Memorial Hall began to take shape

Extensive street sealing programme under way

Reclamation at Waikanae Creek

Last link in the 21" pipeline was at new Matawhero Bridge

Completion of Matawhero Bridge was a triumph over great difficulties

Lytton Road Bridge, under construction here, marked beginning of comprehensive plan to replace obsolete city bridges

Chalet Rendezvous completed

I.H.C. School opened

New baths for Intermediate school

Bank of New Zealand reconstruction

Four Square warehouse opened

Bulldozers clear site for Orange Grove motels

War Memorial Hall completed

Much-needed drainage scheme for Elgin

Open and shut: tytton bridge was completed, officially opened, and closed immediately. Wet weather made approaches into bogs.

1958

Work started immediately on new Roebuck Road Bridge

Hospital Hill slip caused anxiety

Carry-all contours Fitzgerald Block...another of many State Housing projects

New front for Allen Bros. & Johnstone

New bridge over Mangapapa stream

Nac Air centre opened

Progress with Butler's Wall

1959

New look for Post Office

Te Arai Bridge started

Last train to Otoko marked end of hopes for rail link to the north.

Te Wiremu Home construction

Reliance Corner gets a new look

Morris Convalescent Home being built on banks of Waimata River

Opening day for Roebuck Road Bridge

Model of new Lytton High School, building of which was about to start

Government Buildings in Read's Quay began to take shape

Courthouse gutted by fire: Magistrate makes history by holding court session outside on the footpath.

ST. Andrew's in splints

Common Shelton's begin rebuilding programme

1960

Edmund Campion College building started

Government Building completed

Spudding-in day at Mangaone oil well brought high hopes ....but no oil was found here or at Ruakituri.

Ilminster Primary School at Kaiti under construction

New Anglican Church at Te Hapara

Memorial Hall building at Kaiti

New pavilion for R.S.A. Bowling Club

1960 brought biggest flood since 1948, but the new banks held

1961

New water pipeline going through Gladstone Road

Workmen dig foundations for new five-storey T. & G. Building.

Parking meters come to Gisborne

Supermarket comes to Gisborne

Lytton High School opened

Old Council Chambers demolished

Permanent coloured lights installed in shopping area

Fine new Y.M.C.A. building commenced

1962

New airport terminal building at Darton Field

Another new school: Cobham at Elgin

Disastrous fire wrecks Columbine Hosiery works

Thos. Corson & Son's warehouse

New telephone exchange

T. & G. Building completed

Foulston's Mile, last major work in the Waioeka gorge, marked end of ten year's work on northern highway.

1963-1964

This ends our ten-year review. We apologise for the omissions, which are due to lack of space or failure to locate negatives. We look forward to recording future developments in the progress of Gisborne, which will include in the near future, the launching of the sewerage pipeline into the bay, the building of the overseas port, the completion of the Wharerata highway, further water supply developments at Te Arai, the new Williams Memorial Library, and the many other new buildings which are scheduled for construction in the next few years.