The man

Young William

Growing up in the Mackenzie Country presents any young child with countless opportunities. For young William Hamilton, growing up Ashwick Station near Fairlie was the special environment that developed a young boy into a man with dreams.

Bill on his horse

Life in rural New Zealand was very different to today. Burning hot, dry summers and freezing cold winters only added to the station's isolation.
William attended school at Waihi and later at Christchurch's Christ College. He left school early to return to Ashwick to manage the property after the manager was killed in action.



In 1921 Bill bought Irishman Creek Station and from there the legend began. During a trip to England with his parents his passion for motor racing began with the purchase of an Isle of Man Sunbeam motorcar, a car he was to later use to break the Australasian speed record of 100mph.

It was also during this trip to England that Bill met his wife Peggy Wills, they married and returned to New Zealand.
 

Bill Hamilton

In 1924 the first workshop was built at Irishman Creek and the engineering side of Irishman Creek Station began.
It wasn't long before he led the Mackenzie into the hydro electric era with the station having their own water turbine to produce electricity for the house and workshops.

Sir William Hamilton

Billy Hamilton took his company from strength to strength and after a relocation to Christchurch became a major employer in the city.
 

Bill Hamilton's contribution to New Zealand's industry was recognised when he became Sir William when knighted by the nations Governor General.

The company still remains with the Hamilton family with Bill's grandson currently at the helm.

The dream

The Mackenzie Country isn't renowned for its fertile grass flats, so sheep were often pushed deep into the mountain valleys to graze during the summer months. Bringing these sheep back down to the flats of the Mackenzie Basin before the winter snows required journeys into these valleys for several weeks at a time by several musterers, their dogs and large quantities of equipment and food required to support the hard working group during this period. Delivering this equipment into the mustering huts in the valley floors was a difficult task with tracks constantly wiped out by seasonal floods and the rock debris of the eroding valley walls.

Bill Hamilton dreamed of a boat that could travel the most reliable route into these same valleys.

Boats propelled by conventional propellers were unable to travel these shallow, braided rivers and the depth fluctuated rapidly, sometimes to the point that a substantial torrent of water could simply disappear within 100 metres as the porous riverbed allowed the water to flow below the shingle surface.

Boats using water jet technology had already been experimented with overseas with limited success, but Bill Hamilton decided to further investigate the technology with the hope that a 'waterjet' propelled boat could assist in the delivery of men and equipment into the river valleys of Irishman Creek Station.

The team at Irishman Creek who undertook this project weren't a group of University educated engineers, they were practical farm workers who shared the same goal as their employer.
Most important of all, they were Kiwis. The iconic name associated with New Zealanders having practical skills and able to 'think outside of the circle'.

The development

1954 Quinnat series jet unit.

The first jet unit the team developed operated in a centrifugal style jet unit with a turbine that rotated on a horizontal plane, the turbine drew water from under the vessel's stern through it's centre, then rotated and expelled the water from the outer casing the turbines housing, through the vessel's stern, into the water.

The first jet is tested

The unit did move the boat through the water, but the performance was disappointing.
It was while filling a farm water trough with a hose that one of the shepherd, come engineer realised that the hose provided a greater thrust when held out of the water, than it did when the end was submerged. It was this everyday discovery that redefine the water jet. The jet boat was modified to expel the water above the water line with drastic results.

From that point the jet unit went through several major developments, such as the abandoning of the centrifugal turbine method to an axial flow unit containing impellors (internal propellers), the same design that is still in use today.

Such was the success of Hamilton's Jet Boats that the operation was moved to a site in Christchurch and the company expanded its engineering operation beyond just boats.
Several of the shepherds and farm hands from the Irishman Creek operation relocated with the business and swapped their dogs and mustering sticks for suits and management roles in the new operation.
C.W.F. Hamilton can still be found on that same site with their Hamilton Jet division having developed into an international company with offices throughout the world.

A large ferry uses Hamilton Jets

The water jet of the early 1950's has come a long way in just 50 years. The jets have become more efficient and the boats that use them a lot larger.

The Hamilton attitude to engineering development is still present in the company today. Hamilton Jet has recently developed a complex steering system capable of controlling large vessels and holding them in a fixed position, turning them without forward motion and other amazing feats.

Hamilton Jet Photo Gallery

An early Hamilton jet boat performing in the role it was designed for

An early colour image of a Hamilton jet boat tackling a South Island river

Final stages of assembly on a Hamilton 811 commercial jet unit

Four large Hamilton Jet units power this crew carrying vessel in the Gulf of Mexico

All images on this page are the property of CWF Hamilton Ltd and may not be reproduced without their permission.