OCEAN BEACH DOMAIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27505, 27 September 1950, Page 8

OCEAN BEACH DOMAIN

Preparation Of History BOOK NOW TAKING SHAPE As a result of a decision made at the last meeting of the board, a history of the Ocean Beach Domain is now taking shape. The author is Mr John Wilson, Mayor of Dunedin in 191213 and chairman of the Domain Board for 20 years, as well as a board member for a number of years before that time. Mr Wilson is co-operating with Mr J. J. Marlow, a former Mayor of St. Kilda, in the writing of the manuscript.

Both men had a long association with the Domain Board’s activities.

Mr Marlow is at present in the final phases of becoming an author. He has nearly ready for publication a biographical book of his career and associations with St. Kilda and Dunedin. It will be a comprehensive document.

Mr Wilson told the Daily Times yesterday that the work of obtaining information on the activities of the board entailed a thorough perusal of the minutes of meetings extending over the ,past 58 years. These provided a permanent record of the major transactions and works carried out during this period.

The manuscript is taking shape, and Mr Marlow, is now looking oyer that part of it which has been written to check details and to add perhaps a few items from his own store of experience.

Mr Wilson has found some difficulty in obtaining data about the early days before the Domain Board came into existence, and is still seeking photographs of the beach and sandhills in their early state before the activities of the board members transformed the area in the course of years into what has been described as “ the showground of the south.”