Statue of Hamilton mooted
South Canterbury water jet inventor the late Sir William ‘‘Bill’’ Hamilton will be immortalised with a statue in his hometown if there is enough support for the $45,000 memorial.
Gavin Marriott was visiting his mother’s grave at Fairlie cemetery in the Mackenzie District about five years ago when a stranger asked him where Hamilton, the man who changed boating in New Zealand, and worldwide, was buried. His grave is at Burkes Pass.
The incident prompted Marriott to think about how important it was for interested visitors to have something about the inventor of the Hamilton jet to visit.
‘‘There is nothing commemorating him.’’
He has since been in contact with the Mackenzie District Council, the Hamilton family, Jet Boat New Zealand and the Fairlie Heritage Museum gauging reaction to his idea for a statue located in Fairlie.
So far he had received a positive response.
Mackenzie District mayor Graham Smith said he thought it was an ‘‘excellent’’ idea.
He said a new year parade float by the Jet Boat Association had led to discussions in the community. The council was yet to talk about the best site for the memorial.
Smith thought a jet boat hanging from the museum in Fairlie would complement the statue and attract interest and encourage more people to visit.
Charles William Feilden Hamilton grew up at Ashwick Station alongside where the manmade Lake Opuha is. The selftaught engineer purchased
Irishman Creek Station, also in the Mackenzie district in 1921, where he designed, made and tested boats with a waterjet.
He received a knighthood in 1974 for his valuable services to manufacturing and died in 1978.
HamiltonJet’s management was positive about the memorial. Its parent company CWF Hamilton & Co Ltd was founded by the inventor 1939.
‘‘The company is honoured to hear about the proposed statue project of Bill Hamilton to be erected in Fairlie and are generally in support of it,’’ HamiltonJet global marketing manager Albear Montocchio told The Timaru Herald.
New Zealand Jet Boat Association chairman Simon Thew said the association was 100 per cent behind the proposal.
‘‘The Hamilton jet has changed boating in New Zealand and worldwide.’’
He said the Hamilton invention enabled 3.5 tonne boats to function in as little as 10 centimetres of water by sucking water through the grill into internal impellers and pump water out at 400 litres a second. Diverting the water added manoeuvrability to the steering.
At the national jet boating championships, boats could reach speeds in excess of 300kmh when they were powered by helicopter turbine engines with a Hamilton jet, Thew said.
‘‘A lot of people will take the time to look at a statue (of Hamilton), where it all started.’’
Two sites – on the museum site, or the grassy NZ Railway land south of the toilets – were being considered for the statue’s placement. The latter site will require a resource consent.
Marriott was working with Oamaru sculptor Donald Patterson on designs for the bronze statue.
He did not expect there would be any problem raising funds through grants and trusts.
‘‘A lot of people in South Canterbury met or worked with Bill.’’
Fairlie Heritage Museum member and a past chairman Paul Gallagher said he was in favour of the statue and hoped it would get off the ground.