GREY MOUTH BORN
First Ship 100 Years Ago
(From Our Own Reporter) GREYMOUTH, July 22.
One hundred years ago today, a little steamer arrived at the mouth of the Grey river. The captain. Reuben Waite, steered his vessel into the river entrance and made history. Greymouth was born and so was the West Coast coal industry. Waite had been commissioned by the Nelson Provincial Government to load coal at Greymouth for the northern province. A coal seam had been found in the Grey river by Thomas Brunner in January, 1848, and it was tested and pronounced of excellent quality by Julius von Haast in 1860. Under charter, the little steamer left Nelson in the middle of July, 1864, with Waite and about 70 passengers. On July 22 she arrived in Greymouth and tied up on the bank now known as Mawhera quay. Waite opened a store soon after his arrival. The exact locality of this building is the corner of Mawhera quay and Waite street .5
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30500, 23 July 1964, Page 1
Word Count
166GREY MOUTH BORN Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30500, 23 July 1964, Page 1
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