Parnell Rotary Club
 

Volume 1 | Issue -8    Meeting of 19th February 2025

 
Duties 26 February 2025
Door
Morris, Max
 
Speaker Introduction
Stairmand, Colleen
 
3 minute speaker
MacDonald, Rory
 
Welcome to another issue of our weekly bulletin! Below you will find out about future events, our next speaker and upcoming duties.
 The meeting started at 7.30 am;
 
Members Present:
 
Fifteen members were present. There were no apologies
 
Three-Minute Speaker:
 
David got the early call due to time pressures!
 
 
David started life on the West Coast in 1949 and went to school in Christchurch. He spoke of his early childhood memories at the confluence of the Kokatahi and Hokitika rivers. Memories included running away from tree stumps being blasted from the land for firewood, and raspberries and lemonade being consumed outside the local pub which was being frequented by his father. Pre-war cars with no lights and makeshift fuses were fire hazards which meant disconnecting the batteries, least mischievous small fingers got too adventurous. The local population in those days was 5% German. David received his quota through his Grandmother.
 
Sargeant Colleen:
 
Did the Sargeant use her phone inappropriately? Definitely a fine for that. Her father was born in Reefton - is she going one better than David? Rotary is 120 years old, what is today in Maori?, the Gay Parade, Monday is teachers only day, Circ de Soleil returns, the Heart Foundation appeal, Valentine's Day, and a sick parrot. All merit fines. We learned that duct tape does not stop stupid, but it does muffle the sound.
 
President:
 
The president reminded us of the conference in Rotorua. Not much enthusiasm was apparent!
 
Gizmo's garden flourishes. The vegies are doing very well and the residents are well engaged.
 
Main Speakers:
 
.The President stepped up with his assessment of the Whakaari - White Island disaster, including a history of the island and its geology.
 
Te Puia Whakaari translates as the Dramatic Volcano. It has been active for some 150,000 years and is on to its third cone, the other two having eroded away. Its first European visitor was the Mission Schooner - Herald. Cook named it White Island as it thus appeared.
 
The first commercial disaster started in the 1870s with the establishment of sulphur mining and then with the building of a processing factory in Tauranga by one Alexander Wilson, who acquired the island in 1874. The whole dodgy enterprise ended in 1936 with investors losing their money.
 
The first fatal disaster occurred in 1914 with the loss of the ten men working on the island. Peter the Great, the local cat, survived but was down to eight lives. This disaster was thought to be due to a lahar rather than an eruption, but either way, they had no chance.
 
The next great disaster was 9 December 2019. Bang! twenty-two sight-seeing visitors died. We all know the recent history here.
 
With the failure of the sulphur-mining venture in 1936 the island was sold to R. Buttle to have and hold as a scenic reserve, It has been this way ever since, notwithstanding the Government's various attempts to purchase it.
 
Next came the technical stuff. White Island is a submerged stratovolcano - the most active in New Zealand. The history of eruptions, land-slides, surges, lakes coming and going, and general antisocial behaviour would make you question why anyone would go there. The whole region is replete with instability. It is not going to get any safer!
 
Finally, GNS published a study in 2019 saying (in essence) "do not send tourists to White Island". It is a pity that nobody took any notice!
 
The meeting closed at 8.35 am.
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