- The first Piha dance in the Piha Hall was in July 1936, organised by Ivy Phillipson, Mrs Neville Ussher, and Mrs Watt. Guests included the Brownes from Karekare, Yearburys, Hallidays and La Trobes (all Ussher descendants), Yvonne La Trobe (later Mrs Johnnie Byers), Audrey Cullin, Jane Hoover, Jocelyn Tattle, Merle Mobbs (Anawhata), Muriel Ketterer, O Atkin, and J Alexander.
- In 1936 there was a proposal to take sewerage from the whole of the Auckland isthmus to a Manukau Harbour or West Coast outfall, as an alternative to Brown’s Island in the Waitemata. A study rejected an outfall at Huia, as they said there was a large sandbank opposite Whatipu, so it would not be suitable to put sewerage out there. Besides which there was the cost, about £1,850,000, and the length of pipe to get it there, by which stage the untreated sewerage would be “septic” and would corrode the pipes.
- If sewerage was to the go to the West Coast, the study said, it would have to be between Karekare and Piha, but a detailed study of currents would need to need to look at the effects on the beaches. At this location it would be possible to discharge raw sewerage, without preliminary treatment.
- We can be grateful this didn’t go ahead, but older Piha members will recall a similar proposal from the Auckland Regional Council in the 1990s, and Gary Taylor, meeting with locals in the Barnett Hall, to persuade us this was a good idea!
- In 1939 beachfront owners at Piha met with Waitemata County Council about the state of the beach which was being eroded: “Much of the erosion has been due to continued south-west winds,” said Mr de Guerrier. “The many people attending the beach have destroyed protecting vegetation. The result is that a great portion of my section has gone over to Sydney – washed away.”
- The deputation thought a beachfront road would help, or failing that “an embankment or protecting bank of clay.”
In days gone by…..
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