History Greymouth

greymouth in 1924



fisherman statue on seawall

greymouth has history of coal , gold mining. when mining industry started decline, forestry became new staple industry. fishing has long been important town, despite fact entrance grey river has 2 notoriously dangerous sandbars; inner , outer bar. greymouth regularly flooded grey river. since 1860s, town had been under water 2 dozen times. when town flooded twice in 1988, mayor of greymouth, barry dallas, embarked on ambitious project build flood protection wall. since completion, river flooding has not affected town again.

greymouth has historic world war ii gun emplacement @ cobden. grey district council destroyed part of site, without consultation, in 2007 make way sewer line.

on 10 march 2005, major tornado, started waterspout, made landfall in blaketown, suburb of greymouth. moved through town passing south of main town centre. tornado 1 of largest reported in recent history in west coast region , caused millions of dollars in damage , injured several people.

on 19 november 2010, there explosion @ pike river mine, trapping 29 miners. attempts rescue trapped miners repeatedly delayed due high levels of methane gas until second explosion on 24 november believed dash hope of survival miners.