Development of Birkenhead
Before the opening of Auckland's Harbour Bridge in 1959, access to the North Shore from the City was restricted to transport by ferry. While some residents commuted to the city, most of the development of the area was determined by local employment; thus, Chelsea was a leading proponent and determinant in the growth of Birkenhead and provided a focal point for the community. With Chelsea as the major employer, Birkenhead was considered by many to be a 'company town'. In 1900, when the borough's population was 1000, one-third of the men worked at the refinery; local farmers and orchadists relied on casual labour in their off-season.
Before the establishment of the sugar works, the area consisted of farms and orchards, with a small village beside Birkenhead Wharf; within four years of the refinery's opening, Birkenhead had become a borough. The burgeoning town grew up the hill towards Chelsea Village, with a group of shops established at Highbury, between the two original villages. Most of the local shops were supported by business from Chelsea and its workers,and workers became involved in local community affairs, including the offices of mayor and councillor. The shift sirens could be heard throughout Birkenhead and served as a 'clock' for all.
Read more about this topic: Chelsea Sugar Refinery, Wider Impact
Famous quotes containing the words development of and/or development:
“The experience of a sense of guilt for wrong-doing is necessary for the development of self-control. The guilt feelings will later serve as a warning signal which the child can produce himself when an impulse to repeat the naughty act comes over him. When the child can produce his on warning signals, independent of the actual presence of the adult, he is on the way to developing a conscience.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)
“If you complain of people being shot down in the streets, of the absence of communication or social responsibility, of the rise of everyday violence which people have become accustomed to, and the dehumanization of feelings, then the ultimate development on an organized social level is the concentration camp.... The concentration camp is the final expression of human separateness and its ultimate consequence. It is organized abandonment.”
—Arthur Miller (b. 1915)