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Gavin Marriott stands atop a rock, gifted by Mt Dobson Skifield owner Peter Foote, for a Sir Bill Hamilton memorial outside the Fairlie Heritage Museum. He said he had assumed the application had been unsuccessful after reading about the latest round of successful applicants on July 5. Marriott has applied for $2,800 to put a plaque on a donated rock, located in the car park of the Fairlie Heritage Museum, in memory of Hamilton’s achievements. He had originally hoped to create a statue but had downgraded his plans after failing to gain enough financial support.
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Gavin Marriott is behind the proposal for a memorial of the water jet inventor, the late Sir Bill Hamilton, being installed in his hometown of Fairlie.
“It didn’t matter that the trees or lamp posts aren’t frangible . I have spent two years full time on this.” An application through Community Trust of Mid and South Canterbury for $2,800 was unsuccessful which was the final straw for Marriott. “It cost about $3000 to put the application in. It feels so stupid to have paid more than what we were asking for.” Marriot is now trying to raise enough money to add a plaque to a rock donated for the purpose, which is sitting in the car park of the Fairlie Heritage Museum. The plaque would cost$2,800 and would sit on the six tonne rock gifted by Dobson Ski Area owner Peter Foote. There will be a picture of Hamilton on the 500cm by 400cm plaque, along with some words from John Walsh, the author of his biography
BROOK SABIN
It s a place so special, you can still see entire moa skeletons lying in a 35 million-year-old cave system.
New Zealand-wide, there are towns that proudly proclaim their (sometimes sole) claim to fame: “The carrot capital” of New Zealand, the “gumboot capital of the world”. And then there are those that seem to be so lacking in self-confidence all they can do is direct others elsewhere. Desperate for a unique selling point, many towns have taken to selling themselves as “the gateway” to somewhere else – often the wider region, but sometimes just to a better-known landmark. Sometimes you can see why, but others are underselling themselves, perhaps not fully realising – or having the funds to promote – the hidden gems in their backyard.
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The Mackenzie Highland Pipe band leads the Fairlie New Year s Day parade “The car club always turn up in large numbers, they’re a great part of the day, but it was good to get out the army tank and marine carrier. “I was particularly a fan of one of the car club member’s Ford GT40, but they all looked fantastic.”
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Mackenzie District Mayor Graeme Smith takes part in the Fairlie New Year s Day parade The tank was a new addition to the parade, Gallagher said, and in total there would have been more than 130 vintage cars, trucks and tractors making their way down the main street.