Maurice Davis addressed the club, on the development of the Otago Harbour. When the first sealers and whalers arrived in Dunedin, the entrance to the harbour had approximately 4 metre depth at low tide. The early geology of the harbour (prior to sealers), comprised an open water way between what is now the Harbour Entrance, and the St Clair and St Kilda Beaches. The Otago Peninsula was an island. Overtime sand filled in St Clair and St Kilda area, creating what is now known as South Dunedin.
In the 1800’s, the harbour had two channels, and these were maintained in 1877 with a dredge. The first dredge to work the harbour was called the New Era. The city fathers recognised the need for the maintenance of the harbour and this continued, with the purchase of a second dredge called the Vulcan and then a third dredge built in Scotland called 222. In 1929, Otakau, was bought into service and was the largest dredge in the southern hemisphere, a testament to the desire to maintain the channel and the entrance to the harbour. In 1985, the New Era number 2 was built in Dunedin. Over the years, approximately 35 million cubic metres of sediment has been moved, which was equivalent to 50 rugby fields stacked to a height of 70 metres.
Other boats Maurice has been involved with, is the development of two tugs for the harbour, which were built at a time of extreme import controls in the 1980’s, and built in Dunedin. These two tugs are still going and working in Australia which is testament to the design and build by the then local engineers and ship builders.
Port Otago are currently embarking on the Next Generation plan, and currently increasing the entrance to a depth of 14 metres at low tide with the second phase of the operation to increase this depth to 16 metres. This will be 4 times the depth of the original four metres when the sealers and whalers arrived.
As a harbour engineer, Maurice had to contend with just about all of the engineering difficulties that can occur. Port Chalmers is the deepest port in New Zealand, and also has a large area of shallow waters. During Maurice’s time as the harbour engineer, he was involved with the development of the oil terminal, and containerisation. This has led to the concentration on shipping at Port Chalmers and the recent Next Generation programme to further deepen the entrance.
Maurice describes himself as a man whose attempted to retire 7 times. He’s been active in the sailing and at one time was a scuba diver. He now describes himself as a man who has paid for playing with boats.
Maurice was awarded a Paul Harris Fellow, for his long involvement with the harbour and its development. Maurice was a member of the Dunedin South Rotary Club, however work commitments meant he was not able to attend as many meetings as he would like. He is still active with the Dunedin South Rotary Club on an occasional basis, and still remains involved in the harbour development.
