First Family Moves Into Twizel

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32213, 4 February 1970, Page 8

First Family Moves Into Twizel

The new sl2m town of Twizel in the Upper Waitaki has its first residents—a family of five headed by the man who will also he headmaster of Twizel Primary School.

; Mr and Mrs J. O. Hawes and their three sons, Mark, aged 10, Michael 8, and Anthony ■fl, of Otorohanga, moved into their new home at 38 JolJie Road, Twizel. IJast week. They arc the first of hundreds of families and single I men who will arrive during the next few years to swell the town’s population to about fiOOO. The new arrivals entered their home by elimbing up two builder's planks leading to the front door. Mrs Hawes told a reporter 'of "The Press" a few hours later that she felt a little deflated after all the excitement before they arrived. The experience of finding herself neighbourless in an infant town which had no !

shopping facilities, no sealed! roads, no footpaths and no gardens had come as a sur-l prise. But all that is due to change dramatically during the next few weeks. Next month between 20 and 30 families as well as about 100 single men will be in the town.

The Ministry of Works is about to let a contract for the construction of the first block of shops and before next winter the main facilities required in any town will be available. Among the earliest families ito take up residence at Twizel will be the men who are working on the canal con|struction. Their homes will be transferred shortly from iOtematata to cut down the 'long distances they have to 'travel at present to get to work.

The resident engineer at Twizel. Mr T. Story, says the town will contain 520 houses by the end of March, 1971. The houses are being moved from Otematata at the rate of nearly two a day and 125 are already in position. There are also 200 single men’s huts on the site and a cookhouse and dry canteen are ready for use.

The Licensing Control Commission is due to sit during the next few weeks to hear applications for ,a hotel. Next month the first batch of single men will move into their quarters, Mr Story has about 300 men working at Twizel erecting and redecorating houses, building and sealing roads, connecting essential services and operating a huge stores and maintenance depot. Water And Severs Since men and machines first moved on to the town site nearly half a million (yards have been shifted with topsoil stripping and silty ■gravel. More than six miles of roads have been laid out and 16,000 ft of sewerage and water pipelines laid. The standard of work laid down by the Ministry of Works is such as to ensure that essential services will stand up to 15 years of use.

Twizel will be a town bigger than Otematata and will be occupied three times

(as long. Work first began on the new town 16 months ago and the aim since then has been to open up as many roads as possible, establish site facilities and mbve houses into place. Mr Story says that this year shops, community centres and other public facilities including sealed roads ;and a major water supply will ibe completed. Houses at Twizel are being heavily insulated to withstand the severe winter temperatures of the area. Walls, ceilings and floors are being specially lined to make each house as snug as possible. Frosts recorded in the area last winter were as heavy as 35 degrees, making it one of the coldest places in New Zealand. One of the first major facilities at Twizel will be a new primary school.

Teachers Appointed I The headmaster, Mr Hawes, who took up residence last week, hopes to have the first two classrooms occupied on March 1. The rooms are now under construction at Oamaru and will arrive at Twizel this month. Six more classrooms will arrive in twos and further rooms will be added as required. Six teachers have already been appointed to Twizel, including three now at Otematata, two at Pukaki and one at Hunter. . A secondary school is expected to open at Twizel next year.

The 22 children now attending the Pukaki school will be transferred to Twizel. They include some who live 12 miles beyond Pukaki on the Mount Cook road and will be brought in daily by school bus.

Mr Hawes will be responsible for the establishment of the new school and the transfer of the Pukaki children. He said the major problems in starting the school would be equating classrooms with the number of children who would probably not be arriving in determined size groups. Many children now attending the Otematata school would be among the new Twizel pupils while others would come from outside the area.