Small south Marlborough town 'knocked so many times' but remains resilient

Sunday, 27 August 2017

A small south Marlborough town rocked by three major earthquakes in three years is no stranger to adversity, but residents say the community remains resilient.

Ward, population around 900, is the central hub of the historic Flaxbourne district, an area of dry, pastoral land in southern Marlborough.

The town was hit hard by the two Seddon earthquakes of 2013, then again when the earth rocked and rolled during the massive 7.8-magnitude Kaikoura earthquake.

That last disaster had a profound impact on the town. Its single largest employer, Burkhart Fisheries, now faces an uncertain future after a failed resource consent bid.

**READ MORE:

* Environmental arguments trump commerce as Ward fishing proposal shot down

* Environmentalists and commercial fishers go head-to-head

* Residents of small town push for name change

* Quake in Ward worse than three years ago**

Its only pub, the East Coast Inn, lies damaged and empty alongside State Highway 1, a once bustling stretch of road that now caters mainly to road crews travelling south.

Flaxbourne Museum, which residents had started fundraising to replace prior to the earthquake, was left damaged beyond repair.

And its only cafe and gas station, owned by the same family behind the fishing company, is for sale.

But residents of the small rural town remain optimistic about the future.

'The thing that strikes me about this place is the resilience of the people,' Ward School principal Dave Sullivan said.

'They've been knocked so many times, two huge earthquakes, drought, massive storms. But if you come along to one of our school events people are happy, they're prospering.'

Sullivan said the school roll, which currently sat at 39 pupils, was expected to increase by 10 next year, adding the school and the community was vibrant and optimistic.

But he conceded it would be a big loss for the community if Burkhart Fisheries, a commercial crayfishing company, decided to shift its processing factory from Ward.

The company suffered a major setback in the earthquake, which rendered its traditional launch site at Ward Beach practically unusable because of seabed uplift.

It had applied to form a road 1.5 kilometres along the coast to a new launch site beside a scientific reserve, but was shot down in a decision released earlier this month.

During the resource consent hearing lawyer Quentin Davies, acting for the company, said the decision would be as transformative as the earthquake for the small community.

The argument went that if they could no longer fish off the coast, then having their processing factory and associated workforce based in Ward would be untenable.

'We're working with central and local Government to try and get the operation back up and running,' Davies said.

'We're trying hard to keep jobs in Ward and to maintain a significant export earner not only for the Flaxbourne region but also for Marlborough and New Zealand.' 

Another thing people working in the community are pinning their hopes on is the proposal to form a combined cycling and walking trail down the coast through Ward.

East Coast Inn owner Jim McDougall said the Coastal Pacific Trail was one of the factors influencing his decision about what to do with the site of the only pub in town.

His insurance broker had told him the building should have been red-stickered following the earthquake and it would be too expensive to repair.

That was not to say it could not be done - McDougall said he could sell it on an 'as is where is' basis to someone who wanted to bring it up to code, but instead he was waiting to see if he should rebuild.

'We're sitting on our hands and seeing what happens with the Coastal Pacific Trail, with the road - when that re-opens - to see what the business levels are,' he said.

'We've had lots of people from the community say 'come on, get something going here - it was a fantastic asset'.

'But economically you've got to make it work and that's sometimes easier said than done. We'd be absolutely bonkers to go and invest $1 million in a building that's never going to return it.'

Flaxbourne Services and Cafe owner Barbara Burkhart said the property was on the market, but said they wanted to sell to the right person and were not in any rush to do so.

'It is vital to the community to have a shop in Ward and a gas station for the passing public when they come back,' she said.

Burkhart said once the highway re-opened, something which was expected to happen in December, and with the added prospect of the Coastal Pacific Trail, Ward would be fine.

'Ward is a resolute little community, and quite a together community. So I think no matter what gets thrown at it, it survives,' she said.

'We've stood up to two major earthquakes and we haven't died yet.'

Ward farmer Kevin Loe said there had been some silver linings to come out of the earthquake, including looking at a new heritage centre to replace Flaxbourne Museum.

'Some people still have issues within their own homes, they're not sure how that's going to pan out yet,' he said.

'But the community certainly seems to be working together very well, and there are a lot of opportunities sitting out there.

'The cycleway, we're all pretty optimistic that's going to happen and bring some real benefits - there's almost unanimous enthusiasm for that.'

Loe said the Burkharts and the employment opportunities created by their fishing business had been one of the things that had held the community together through previous tough times.

'We are all rather hopeful that an appropriate solution can be found to keep [the factory] operational,' he said.

Quoting local Doug Avery, the motivational speaker behind the 'Resilient Farmer' website, Loe said the community was looking forward with optimism.

'We step forward together,' he said.