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Greymouth Wharf, ca. 1950.
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Location (city or town)GreymouthEventWaterside Workers Lockout
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CommentsPhyllis Aberhart I can remember it My father was involved in it.
Don Hutton At left? Heather Newby?
Heather Newby you mean the building with 1865 on it?
ther Newby Yes it's at the left of the photo. Sorry I'm being a damned school teacher again!!
Don Hutton Heather Newby Yes, I remember the Matthew Flinders - came over from Australia and was one of the larger ships that berthed at the wharf. I was 13 at the time of this photo and the strike messed up travel plans for those of us in the Boys' Brigade to go to a big camp at Waipara. Instead of the train we went on the back of Richards Grocery delivery truck.
Heather Newby Don Hutton how was that?
Don Hutton Heather Newby The railway workers went on strike in sympathy with the wharfies. Normally we would have gone by regular passenger train to Christchurch and a special to Waipara. Mr. Richards, grocer, High St, father of Con, John and Les who were in the BB, set up seats (boards!) on the tray of his delivery truck (had a canopy) and ferried us to the camp over the Lewis Pass. By the time the camp finished the railways were running again so we returned by train.
Jill Jones I worked for Duncan Mc leans in 1957.
John Anderson I see Duncan Mc Lean Jnr quite regularly ...I believe he is 92 years old and still quite a character.
Alex Graham Greymouth wharf was once a hive of activity!
Heather Newby yes.. i remember lying in bed as a kid and hear the screaming of the wagon wheels and the shunting going on at the wharf.
Mary Moffitt I remember a photograph in the Greymouth paper showing the Matthew Flinders floating level with the wharf. It must have been because of the storm mentioned here. We were all amazed at just how high the river had risen. Of course we never saw the floods in Greymouth, probably because we were isolated by floods in between us and Greymouth.
Brian McIntyre Yes Heather Newby there are lots of memory sounds from my childhood. The grinding of the bucket dredge Mawhera. The sound of the gravel moving with the wave surges on the Blaketown beach about 2 miles away in a straight line. The fire siren at the fire station calling out the volunteers and the testing of it at noon every Saturday. Train whistles. All still in my memory bank today.
Don Hutton Ditto Brian McIntyre. Also the foundry whistle. The roaring of the sea in the south was supposed to be a sign of fine weather coming.
Brian McIntyre Yep I forgot the foundry whistle Don Hutton and it was ony a few hundred metres from my home.
Heather Newby Don Hutton and you could hear the waves cracking like a pistol whip.. At the change of tide.
Don Hutton Found this on the Internet: MATTHEW FLINDERS (1) 2,290 gross tons. Lb: 86.4 x 13.4 metres. Steel single screw steamship built by Burntisland SB, Burntisland for H C S Coasters Pty Ltd (Sleigh), Melbourne. Triple expansion engine. 10.5 knots. Cargo only and serviced the trans-tasman timber trade 1938-1956. 1956 sold to J Nurminen renamed Pirkko Nurminen. 1967 sold to Loffredo & Ummarino renamed Rauma. Broken up at Cartagena October 1971.
Brian McIntyre Peter Robertson gave me a photo of the Matthew Flinders. Havent seen you here for a while Peter.
Elizabeth Betty Woods My father was involved in this strike, I watched this footage recently, worth looking at https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/1951-2001
Delete or hide this
1951 | Television | NZ On Screen
NZONSCREEN.COM
1951 | Television | NZ On Screen
1951 | Television | NZ On Screen
Don Hutton Very interesting history.
Gerald Freeman Tell me was it a strike or a lock out? Very different things.
Alex Graham Although popularly described as a strike, in fact it (the 1951 maritime industrial dispute) began as a "Work to Rule", which then evolved into a "Lock Out". At no time in this dispute did the Watersider's Union engage in a strike.
Don Hutton Heather Newby Sorry, I as only 13 at the time and was fairly ignorant of stuff about strikes, lockouts etc. The TV documentary uploaded by Elizabeth Betty Woods taught me a lot I didn't know.
Elizabeth Betty Woods Don Hutton I learnt a lot as well by watching this documentary!
Alex Graham It was during a time when wharfies were not very popular (anybody remember the wharfie jokes?); which is probably why the government was able to get away with a deliberate attempt to smash a union (The Waterside Workers).
John Rosanowski Was a lockout, Gerald.The port authorities tried to force the workers to work longer hours. When they refused, the ports closed themselves down. A lot of nasty legislation was passed by the govt. Guess whose side they were on??
Betty Tindale A strike my father was in it to what a long time it was.
Lee Williams The miners went out on strike in support, no pay for weeks .
Roseanne Winstanley Owen here. I heard that there was a bit of animosity between the miners and the wharfies because some/several wharfies had second jobs and continued to get an income while the miners got no pay while out in sympathy.
Kelly Lee I would have loved to be able to go back and see this. To see Greymouth in a different way
Heather Newby Greymouth was humming when i was a kid in the 1950`s and 60s.. it was really busy,, a happening place.
Mary Moffitt This strike very nearly put my father out of business. People with families had to run into debt to feed them, and Cliff Moffitt sold everything he had to manage to continue buying stock. Even the family car went, and there were ten of us depending on …See more
Jason Baxter Mary Moffitt Pretty sure my grandfather Frank Baxter was one of the very people your father helped out Mary ... Well before my time , But I have heard the story from my family ... They spoke highly of him ...
Mary Moffitt Thank you, Jason. Frank deserved help. He was a quiet and lovely man, and we kids were welcome in his home. Cliff would have been happy to be of help. His childhood experiences made him care. We never got to be rich, but your comments are much, much more valuable to me. Are you a son of Des? I was closer in age to his sister, Colleen.
Jason Baxter Mary Moffitt Yes Des is my father.
Gary Murdoch The old age question, was it a strike or a lockout?
Christine Banks Gary Murdoch lockout
Ken Auld Lockout.America wanted wharfs working as they were getting ready for another one of there wars.
John Stuart Lockout,actually I was watching the 6 part Doco on this only this morning. The Arbitration Court said 15% pay rise,Wharf Employers said 9% take it or leave it and you will work COMPULSORY overtime..Wharfies said NO,Came to work to find gates LOCKED 151 days....
Ken Auld An upside was NZ had record prices for wool for uniforms the bad news thousands of the ordinary people killed as well as troops, and look how its turned out
David Coach-man lockout! a massive defeat for the nz working class...
Peter Rosanowski Yes. I believe a law was passed forbidding anyone to give food etc to a wharfie and his family.
Geoffrey King Ken Auld What would the Korean war have to do with the wharves in NZ and America...just asking
Manage
Ken Auld Peter RosanowskiThey couldn/t meet in groups of more than 3 as well you were right. re food they had get it from nominated safe houses Like a movie.
Ken Auld Geoffrey King I think it was Johan foster Dulles came to NZ to tell the Government that the Wharves had to work around clock so Wool etc could go for winter stuff for troops,
Phyllis Aberhart We'd not long moved th Christcurch I was a preschooler With the strike on there was very little to live on. That year us kids got a Xmas decoration each. We got them because they'd been confiscated because for some reason they weren't allowed into NZ
Brian Langton Remember it well in the fifties wasn’t the Navy boat working on the wharf the Taupo from the States.
John Rosanowski Lockout. These were the years of McCarthyism - and in many respects the so-called strike was deliberately provoked by the Holland govt.
Roger Strong Well that's one version. I recall my father who was a fireman (firefighter) being very critical of the wharfies.Kevin Douglas Recall the Navy in Reefton trying to keep some coal production from some mines, difficult time for many families, a lot of essentials were donated and distributed from a depot, my Father had a good crop of spuds and I remember him dropping in bags of them.
Ed Dando About when I was gettin born You can take the boy outa the coast but you can't take the coast outa the boy!
Brian Roughan Accurate comments kevin D and Peter Rosananowski. A valuable lesson to learn at an early age what National are about.
Allan Wasley twas a lockout not a strike.
Tom Currie i lived not far from the wharf that year i was 4
Brent Wilson My Dad was at war against the Japs in the Coral Sea when the NZ wharfies and coal miners were striking. The troops in those inhospitable tropical conditions did not receive fresh food supplies from NZ for months. They suffered from Malaria, dingy fever, beri beri and tropical sores thanks to these selfish greedy union thugs. My Dad only lived to the age of 49yrs old due to these hardships. Lest We Forget.
I ,m bloody sure i wont.
Paul Smith Brent Wilson. Just a tad out with your info Brent. Japan surrendered 1945 ending the war in the Pacific, Coral sea. The Wharf, coal miners dispute (lockout) started 1951.
Craig Norman Paul Smith ( there was a war time strike) but the reason they were short was at Gaudacanal the American admiral got the sh-ts up because he felt that there were jap submarines about so he with drew his cargo fleet before they had unloaded half the supplies.Brent Wilson Craig Norman So that was why our farmers armed themselves and took over the wharves to load the ships with supplies for our Troops?
Russell Innes Lock.out
Brent Duggan A couple of years before Ed. If I remember right you were born in Sept 1953. Is that right.
Ed Dando Right mate more meaning the era 50s
Karl Barkley Wasn't Greymouth Humming back then as well as Westport & The Main Trunk Line Timber, Coal & Gold along with Westland Co-OP Butter heading further North or Off Shore !
Merv Burrell In the 1980s we did a tour of the Yasawa island group in Fiji on the Matthew Flinders which was being used for tourists by a Ossie tour outfit.
Dave Noot Newton Pat [my uncle] made a good home brew and Gib Beynon [Tania father in law] would go around to Pats for a taste or three.
Percy Billett Is that the lane going up to Bruatons house
Brian McIntyre Percy Billett Yep Robbie Brewerton
Manage
Donald Pearson Remember the lockout,was working at Greymouth Motors at the time.
Don Hutton At left? Heather Newby?
Heather Newby you mean the building with 1865 on it?
ther Newby Yes it's at the left of the photo. Sorry I'm being a damned school teacher again!!
Don Hutton Heather Newby Yes, I remember the Matthew Flinders - came over from Australia and was one of the larger ships that berthed at the wharf. I was 13 at the time of this photo and the strike messed up travel plans for those of us in the Boys' Brigade to go to a big camp at Waipara. Instead of the train we went on the back of Richards Grocery delivery truck.
Heather Newby Don Hutton how was that?
Don Hutton Heather Newby The railway workers went on strike in sympathy with the wharfies. Normally we would have gone by regular passenger train to Christchurch and a special to Waipara. Mr. Richards, grocer, High St, father of Con, John and Les who were in the BB, set up seats (boards!) on the tray of his delivery truck (had a canopy) and ferried us to the camp over the Lewis Pass. By the time the camp finished the railways were running again so we returned by train.
Jill Jones I worked for Duncan Mc leans in 1957.
John Anderson I see Duncan Mc Lean Jnr quite regularly ...I believe he is 92 years old and still quite a character.
Alex Graham Greymouth wharf was once a hive of activity!
Heather Newby yes.. i remember lying in bed as a kid and hear the screaming of the wagon wheels and the shunting going on at the wharf.
Mary Moffitt I remember a photograph in the Greymouth paper showing the Matthew Flinders floating level with the wharf. It must have been because of the storm mentioned here. We were all amazed at just how high the river had risen. Of course we never saw the floods in Greymouth, probably because we were isolated by floods in between us and Greymouth.
Brian McIntyre Yes Heather Newby there are lots of memory sounds from my childhood. The grinding of the bucket dredge Mawhera. The sound of the gravel moving with the wave surges on the Blaketown beach about 2 miles away in a straight line. The fire siren at the fire station calling out the volunteers and the testing of it at noon every Saturday. Train whistles. All still in my memory bank today.
Don Hutton Ditto Brian McIntyre. Also the foundry whistle. The roaring of the sea in the south was supposed to be a sign of fine weather coming.
Brian McIntyre Yep I forgot the foundry whistle Don Hutton and it was ony a few hundred metres from my home.
Heather Newby Don Hutton and you could hear the waves cracking like a pistol whip.. At the change of tide.
Don Hutton Found this on the Internet: MATTHEW FLINDERS (1) 2,290 gross tons. Lb: 86.4 x 13.4 metres. Steel single screw steamship built by Burntisland SB, Burntisland for H C S Coasters Pty Ltd (Sleigh), Melbourne. Triple expansion engine. 10.5 knots. Cargo only and serviced the trans-tasman timber trade 1938-1956. 1956 sold to J Nurminen renamed Pirkko Nurminen. 1967 sold to Loffredo & Ummarino renamed Rauma. Broken up at Cartagena October 1971.
Brian McIntyre Peter Robertson gave me a photo of the Matthew Flinders. Havent seen you here for a while Peter.
Elizabeth Betty Woods My father was involved in this strike, I watched this footage recently, worth looking at https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/1951-2001
Delete or hide this
1951 | Television | NZ On Screen
NZONSCREEN.COM
1951 | Television | NZ On Screen
1951 | Television | NZ On Screen
Don Hutton Very interesting history.
Gerald Freeman Tell me was it a strike or a lock out? Very different things.
Alex Graham Although popularly described as a strike, in fact it (the 1951 maritime industrial dispute) began as a "Work to Rule", which then evolved into a "Lock Out". At no time in this dispute did the Watersider's Union engage in a strike.
Don Hutton Heather Newby Sorry, I as only 13 at the time and was fairly ignorant of stuff about strikes, lockouts etc. The TV documentary uploaded by Elizabeth Betty Woods taught me a lot I didn't know.
Elizabeth Betty Woods Don Hutton I learnt a lot as well by watching this documentary!
Alex Graham It was during a time when wharfies were not very popular (anybody remember the wharfie jokes?); which is probably why the government was able to get away with a deliberate attempt to smash a union (The Waterside Workers).
John Rosanowski Was a lockout, Gerald.The port authorities tried to force the workers to work longer hours. When they refused, the ports closed themselves down. A lot of nasty legislation was passed by the govt. Guess whose side they were on??
Betty Tindale A strike my father was in it to what a long time it was.
Lee Williams The miners went out on strike in support, no pay for weeks .
Roseanne Winstanley Owen here. I heard that there was a bit of animosity between the miners and the wharfies because some/several wharfies had second jobs and continued to get an income while the miners got no pay while out in sympathy.
Kelly Lee I would have loved to be able to go back and see this. To see Greymouth in a different way
Heather Newby Greymouth was humming when i was a kid in the 1950`s and 60s.. it was really busy,, a happening place.
Mary Moffitt This strike very nearly put my father out of business. People with families had to run into debt to feed them, and Cliff Moffitt sold everything he had to manage to continue buying stock. Even the family car went, and there were ten of us depending on …See more
Jason Baxter Mary Moffitt Pretty sure my grandfather Frank Baxter was one of the very people your father helped out Mary ... Well before my time , But I have heard the story from my family ... They spoke highly of him ...
Mary Moffitt Thank you, Jason. Frank deserved help. He was a quiet and lovely man, and we kids were welcome in his home. Cliff would have been happy to be of help. His childhood experiences made him care. We never got to be rich, but your comments are much, much more valuable to me. Are you a son of Des? I was closer in age to his sister, Colleen.
Jason Baxter Mary Moffitt Yes Des is my father.
Gary Murdoch The old age question, was it a strike or a lockout?
Christine Banks Gary Murdoch lockout
Ken Auld Lockout.America wanted wharfs working as they were getting ready for another one of there wars.
John Stuart Lockout,actually I was watching the 6 part Doco on this only this morning. The Arbitration Court said 15% pay rise,Wharf Employers said 9% take it or leave it and you will work COMPULSORY overtime..Wharfies said NO,Came to work to find gates LOCKED 151 days....
Ken Auld An upside was NZ had record prices for wool for uniforms the bad news thousands of the ordinary people killed as well as troops, and look how its turned out
David Coach-man lockout! a massive defeat for the nz working class...
Peter Rosanowski Yes. I believe a law was passed forbidding anyone to give food etc to a wharfie and his family.
Geoffrey King Ken Auld What would the Korean war have to do with the wharves in NZ and America...just asking
Manage
Ken Auld Peter RosanowskiThey couldn/t meet in groups of more than 3 as well you were right. re food they had get it from nominated safe houses Like a movie.
Ken Auld Geoffrey King I think it was Johan foster Dulles came to NZ to tell the Government that the Wharves had to work around clock so Wool etc could go for winter stuff for troops,
Phyllis Aberhart We'd not long moved th Christcurch I was a preschooler With the strike on there was very little to live on. That year us kids got a Xmas decoration each. We got them because they'd been confiscated because for some reason they weren't allowed into NZ
Brian Langton Remember it well in the fifties wasn’t the Navy boat working on the wharf the Taupo from the States.
John Rosanowski Lockout. These were the years of McCarthyism - and in many respects the so-called strike was deliberately provoked by the Holland govt.
Roger Strong Well that's one version. I recall my father who was a fireman (firefighter) being very critical of the wharfies.Kevin Douglas Recall the Navy in Reefton trying to keep some coal production from some mines, difficult time for many families, a lot of essentials were donated and distributed from a depot, my Father had a good crop of spuds and I remember him dropping in bags of them.
Ed Dando About when I was gettin born You can take the boy outa the coast but you can't take the coast outa the boy!
Brian Roughan Accurate comments kevin D and Peter Rosananowski. A valuable lesson to learn at an early age what National are about.
Allan Wasley twas a lockout not a strike.
Tom Currie i lived not far from the wharf that year i was 4
Brent Wilson My Dad was at war against the Japs in the Coral Sea when the NZ wharfies and coal miners were striking. The troops in those inhospitable tropical conditions did not receive fresh food supplies from NZ for months. They suffered from Malaria, dingy fever, beri beri and tropical sores thanks to these selfish greedy union thugs. My Dad only lived to the age of 49yrs old due to these hardships. Lest We Forget.
I ,m bloody sure i wont.
Paul Smith Brent Wilson. Just a tad out with your info Brent. Japan surrendered 1945 ending the war in the Pacific, Coral sea. The Wharf, coal miners dispute (lockout) started 1951.
Craig Norman Paul Smith ( there was a war time strike) but the reason they were short was at Gaudacanal the American admiral got the sh-ts up because he felt that there were jap submarines about so he with drew his cargo fleet before they had unloaded half the supplies.Brent Wilson Craig Norman So that was why our farmers armed themselves and took over the wharves to load the ships with supplies for our Troops?
Russell Innes Lock.out
Brent Duggan A couple of years before Ed. If I remember right you were born in Sept 1953. Is that right.
Ed Dando Right mate more meaning the era 50s
Karl Barkley Wasn't Greymouth Humming back then as well as Westport & The Main Trunk Line Timber, Coal & Gold along with Westland Co-OP Butter heading further North or Off Shore !
Merv Burrell In the 1980s we did a tour of the Yasawa island group in Fiji on the Matthew Flinders which was being used for tourists by a Ossie tour outfit.
Dave Noot Newton Pat [my uncle] made a good home brew and Gib Beynon [Tania father in law] would go around to Pats for a taste or three.
Percy Billett Is that the lane going up to Bruatons house
Brian McIntyre Percy Billett Yep Robbie Brewerton
Manage
Donald Pearson Remember the lockout,was working at Greymouth Motors at the time.
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West Coast New Zealand History (24th May 2020). Greymouth Wharf, ca. 1950.. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 4th Apr 2026 10:19, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/14655