​June date for Big Dig celebration

 

Did you take part in the Big Dig in 1991? Were you one of the 60 to 70 people who assisted in the now-famous filling in of the breach in the Distal Spit completed in 1996?

If so, then the Mangawhai Museum and the Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society (MHRS)want to hear from you so you can be included in celebrations memorialising the events.

On February 11, 2016 it was 25 years since a band of people and their machinery attempted to reopen the main entrance to Mangawhai Harbour in what has become known as the Big Dig.

Following this, work was carried out to close the breach in the Spit. This breech threatened the very essence of life and the future of Mangawhai. Water in the estuary becoming stagnant due to the still-closed main entrance preventing the harbor from being flushed out by tidal movement

On June 29 this year it will be the 20th anniversary since that breech was closed by volunteers using dredges purchased by the Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society together with appropriate machinery.

Local Jim Wintle, widely recognised as the leading light behind the Big Dig, says that it is important that everyone who was involved in the process is invited to the celebrations which will take place at the Mangawhai Museum on June 25.

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“At the height of the work done to close off the bund wall we had between 60 and 70 people assisting with up to 40 machines.”

The Museum and MHRS will have combined to produce a plaque containing the names of all volunteers involved with the “Big Dig” and this will be unveiled at the June 25 function.

If you can assist with any information and/or were a volunteer during the times of remedying the harbour, please contact Graeme Smith (MHRS executive member) 431 4357 or 027 215 1467.