In the early 1910s, nestled within the secluded reaches of Sinclair Valley in Wainuiomata, a short-lived but bustling work camp sprang up alongside a tramline terminus. Nicknamed “Navvy-town” by those who lived and worked there, the settlement served as the base for a large crew of labourers constructing what was then called Solomon’s Knob Dam, later renamed Morton Dam.
These workers, known as navvies, originally referred to canal builders. As civil engineering advanced, the word broadened to describe the armies of labourers behind major infrastructure projects including railways, roads, and waterworks. Equipped with little more than shovels, carts, and sheer endurance, navvies often toiled in rugged, isolated areas, carving progress out of the landscape by hand.
Tags: Waterworks
