The Middle of Nowhere

For most New Zealanders, Manapouri is associated with the country’s largest and most successful environmental protest, but there is another, less well-known narrative of this time. The struggle to drill a tailrace tunnel under a rocky mountain at Manapouri, blast out a cavernous machine hall at West Arm and carve a road over the treacherous Wilmot Pass is a powerful tale of those who worked and lived in extreme and punishing conditions, and faced many hazards. Eighteen men died and many were …