Wellington Harbour Board WHB Chief Engineers files

Descriptive Data

Archives IdentifierAC058Date Range1889-1989DescriptionThis series contains the main correspondence file system used by the Chief Engineers Department of the Wellington Harbour Board (WHB). It was in use from circa 1941 to 1989, though papers from the earlier WHB outwards letters system of filing (series AC020) were also placed on these files.

The files contain both inwards and outwards correspondence and may also contain maps, plans, photographs and ephemera. They provide evidence of the operational, legislative and administrative actions of the Chief Engineers Department. The files cover such topics as the hiring of staff, industrial awards, harbour pollution, purchase and maintenance of tugs, cranes and other equipment, construction and maintenance of wharves, buildings, harbour lights and navigational aids. There are also a substantial set of files concerning the creation and maintenance of the Thorndon Container Terminal.

The numbering system is subject based, but organised alphabetically. For example 1/- files are subjects beginning with ‘A’, while 23/- files are those beginning with the letter ‘W’. If a subject is a large one that covers a variety of information then it was assigned a slightly different type of number. For example, 23.01/- files are for ‘Wharves’ and each wharf has its own 23.01/- file regardless of its name. So the system is still in alphabetical order, but allows a large number of subjects which broadly relate to each other to be kept together under one subseries. In a similar case, the 10/- files are for ‘H’ subjects and the 10.01/- files concern individual Harbour Lights and Navigation aids.

The sub series used by this file system are as follows: 1/- A 1.01/ Awards and Disputes 1.02/ Airways Rongotai 2.01/- Buildings and Sheds 3/- B 4/- C 5/- C 5.01/- Contracts 6.01/- Damages 6.02/- Diving Services 6.03/- Dredging 7/- E 7.01/- Electricity 8/- F 8.01/- Floating Dock 9/- G 10/- H 10.01/- Harbour Lights and Navigational Aids 10.02/- Harbour Development 12/- I 14/- L 15/- M/N 17/- O 17.02/- Orders – Machinery 18/- P 18.01/- Plant and Machinery 18.02/- Floating Plant and Machinery 19/- R 19.01/- Reports 19.02/- Railways 19.04/- Real Estate 19.05/- Research 20/- S 21/- S 21.01/- Staff 21.02/- Supplies Store 22/- T/U/V 22.01/- ? 23/- W 23.01/- Wharves 23.02/- ? 24/- Thorndon Container Terminal The 22.01/- and 23.02/- subseries only hold ‘one off’ subjects that don’t quite fit the rest of the file system.

As the original intention behind the creation of them is unknown, question marks have been placed next to them. A number of items in the 21.01/- staff related subseries contain information relating to specific staff members (in particular the retirement files 21.01/5). Where a file was found to contain this sort of information a Privacy restriction is noted in the Restrictions field of the database.

When the appraisal was carried out in 2009 a number of files were found to be missing. Some may have been previously destroyed by the WHB when no longer required or they may have been transferred to other agencies such as the Wellington Regional Council or the Port Company following the disestablishment of the Harbour Board. This means that certain files may be missing parts, for example only parts 4 to 7 are held for the file “6.01/1 Damages, buildings”.Quantity (Linear Metres)35MediumFileSystem of ArrangementFile number orderCollection TypeWellington Museums Trust

Access Information

Restriction StatusOpen

Related Agencies

Controlling or Creating AgencyWHB, Chief Engineer's DepartmentRelationship Date RangeUnknown

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Wellington Harbour Board WHB Chief Engineers files