Memories of Coronation Pier - by Robin Grierson

In 2008 what for many of us has been an integral part of Tauranga’s development was demolished. This was Coronation Pier, a structure which had become the focal point of many businesses that developed the City of Tauranga as we know it. But at the heart of what it has meant for the majority who used her – that thing that hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders are so passionate about – was access to recreational fishing.

Originally, there was just a little beach off what’s known as The Strand, where goods were loaded and unloaded at low tide. In 1871, the Town Wharf was constructed just off the eastern end of Wharf Street. This was provided by the Provincial Government, but in 1882, when the Borough Council was formed, they took over the administration of the pier. It was reconstructed during 1951 and ‘52, and finally named Coronation Pier in 1953, the year that coincided with the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II.

One of the earliest uses of the pier was before the times of the car and even rail. Steamships would deliver intrepid tourists to Tauranga at the pier, from whence they would embark on another boat trip to Maketu. Then it was a stage-coach trip across the hills to see and smell the sights of Rotorua.

As land was cleared and dairy farms developed on Matakana Island, the cream launch Awhitu used to service them from the pier.

From about 1909 the Faulkner Ferries ran from here. There were about nine boats in this fleet, which played a huge part in the development of both Mount Maunganui and further up the coast, as there was as yet no roading. Food stores, fencing gear, fertilizer – all were ferried up the different estuaries to the pioneering farmers as far away as Waihi.  Also these vessels were involved in the transport of workers and equipment from Armstrong’s workshop at the Mount to forging the rail-link up to the Eastern Coast in the 1920s.

Apparently the Mount was ‘dry’ in the early years. Well before the days of pubs and bars, alcohol was despatched from Guinness Brothers on The Strand to Coronation Pier and delivered to the parched throats of Mount Maunganui folks. Faithful over the years in the transport of workers to Tauranga, and to tourism. No holiday at the Mount was complete until one had done the ferry trip to Tauranga and back. College students went to school in Tauranga via the ferries until the Mount College opened and the Maungatapu Bridge was built in 1958. These events, along with that of better roading and rail, heralded the slow demise of the ferries.

During the war, all staff and trainees were carried from the pier to the aerodrome wharf and returned there. Later, when our national defence frigates visited the harbour, their patrol boats tied up at Coronation Pier.

The legendary Gerry Williams began his boating business, Tauranga  Harbour Transport, in 1927, using Coronation Pier from which to berth the many vessels that were involved. This fleet became responsible for the developments of the ports, and building of other piers and wharves within the harbor, as well as being integral to the creation of the Bunn Brothers’ sawmilling business on Matakana Island.

Some of the boats remembered include the tug Edward G, the Omokoroa, the Nancy Bell, the Lady Bess, the scow Alma, Miss Ida and two jet boats.  Gerry’s public fishing trips didn’t start until the 1930s, and eventually involved others – the Ratahi (1938) and the ill-fated Ranui, until she sank at the harbour entrance in the tragic storm of ‘51.

Tauranga Fishing Club used the pier as a base from which it serviced its clubhouse, which in the early days was based on Mayor Island. All the stores, fuel and alcohol, etc., were sent from there until the club shifted to its present position at Sulphur Point.

Further extensions happened when the Tauranga Harbour Board took over administration of the wharf in 1959, at this time a small reclamation with office accommodation and a cargo store. It was then that Coronation Pier really became pivotal to these commercial operations.

Before the days of the regulation of the fishing industry, many would flock to the evening return of the boats, hoping to buy for their dinners the freshest of snapper, tarakihi or John Dory. Other boats came and went over the years, many of them and their skippers’ names long forgotten, such as the Abalone (Ces Jack), Tide Rider (Fred Jones, Jim Thompson) and Toama. Later came the Deep Star and the Manutere, which still berthed there when the pier was demolished, along with Ratahi, Oharere and Te Kuia, owned by Blue Ocean Charters (the Ensors) who had taken over the office spaces in the buildings to run their business.

Over the years many a budding young fisherman honed his skills from the safety of her planks. Many a family remembers fondly sharing fish and chips while fending off the squawking gulls. …The quiet, restorative lunch of the clericals…. The nervous lover’s proposal…. Anxious parents coming to pick up kids after the school trip to Mayor Island, waiting, talking…. Crowds gathering to watch the birdmen try to fly, with much laughter….The quiet drink at the end of the day, the peaceful smoke….The camaraderie of whose was the biggest fish, the fastest boat home….

All is silent, now.

The fact that the pier took much more time and expense to demolish than expected proved that the structure was very far indeed from ‘unsafe and unstable’, the city council’s supposed reasons for its demolition. Some might argue, “That’s the price of progress”, but many of us feel that part of Tauranga’s soul was dumped along with those trucks of rubble. The name Tauranga means ‘safe anchorage’, and for many Coronation Pier was the embodiment of this.

Now all we have of this much-loved wharf is memories aplenty.

With thanks to John Magill for his reminiscences.