Middle of Nowhere: Stories of Working on the Manapouri Hydro Project

For most New Zealanders, Manapouri is associated with the country’s largest and most successful environmental protest, but there is another, less well-known narrative of this time. The struggle to drill a tailrace tunnel under a rocky mountain at Manapouri, blast out a cavernous machine hall at West Arm and carve a road over the treacherous Wilmot Pass is a powerful tale of those who worked and lived in extreme and punishing conditions, and faced many hazards. Eighteen men died and many were injured during the construction.

In The Middle of Nowhere, the men and women of the Manapouri project tell their compelling stories. They describe the long, noisy hours underground, battling gushing water and the constant threat of explosion, the unrelenting hardship of atrocious weather, life on the Wanganella, brought in as a floating hostel, and the challenges faced by women raising children in the barren hydro village. But there is affection, too, for this extraordinary place and its unique wildlife, and plenty of the black humour and Kiwi stoicism required in adversity.

Calling on a wide range of oral and written accounts, and richly illustrated, The Middle of Nowhere reveals a fascinating and often overlooked part of New Zealand history.

Rosemary Baird is a Senior Outreach Adviser for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. She has a doctorate in oral history from the University of Canterbury and loves social history, heritage places and personal narratives. She lives with her family in Otautahi Christchurch.