A TOWN NOW GONE!
This was the site of the industrial boom town that sprang up around the construction of New Zealand’s first major hydro-electric project, a transient mushroom settlement with little past and no future.
In 1951, there were only bare rocks and windswept hills. By 1953, here before you, over an area of approximately 1.5 square kilometres, was a modern settlement of more than 700 houses and full range of community facilities – a school, churches, shopping and community centres.
By 1957, the dam was almost finished, and most of the residents had left to seek fortunes elsewhere.
Representatives from 25 countries were thrown together to live and work here in the semi-arid climate with hot summers and severe winters.
Over the period of the dam construction there was a rapid turnover of labour. The influx of new groups of workers resulted in a constant change in both the number and constitution of the population.
A survey in January 1954, when the workforce was approaching its peak, showed that the population of the settlement, including women and children, was 3,078.
The age distribution was unusual, with a high proportion of young married couples between the ages of 20 and 40 and an unusually high proportion of children under the age of 10. (The school roll in 1955 was 550 with a staff of 16.)
More striking than the unusual age distribution was the large number of nationalities. In 1954, the workforce of 1,107 consisted of New Zealanders 446, contract workers (from Britain and Ireland) 279, British immigrants 202, Dutch immigrants 119 and others 61.
Another feature of the population (no doubt attracted by the high wages, satisfactory meals and accommodation) was the large number of single men between the ages of 20 and 40, giving rise to a disproportionate ration of adult males to females (1,341 : 659), meaning there were few young single women in the community.
There wasn’t much for single men to do in the evenings so a large number sought entertainment elsewhere. Roxburgh was a popular rendezvous. The construction settlement was a “dry” area, so the three Roxburgh hotels did a roaring trade.