Knight's Point is on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island.
The 1950s were a time of immense infrastructure development in New Zealand. A major project was the building by the Ministry of Works of a road from the South Island's east coast, across Haast Pass and up the west coast to join the road that terminated at Ross.
Progress was made by pushing the road across the Haast Pass to near the mouth of the Haast River where a major bridge was constructed to take the road north along the coast. A second crew began construction south of Ross and progressed south.
The two teams met north of Haast at a picturesque place on the coast. As the time for the official opening of the road drew near, officials from the Ministry of Works journeyed to the meeting point to make arrangements for a commemorative monument by the roadside. In the course of conversation with the construction crew, it was mentioned that the location should be named after a senior official of the Ministry of Works employed in the head office in Wellington, the national capital.
The construction crew informed the delegation from Wellington that the area had already been named Knight's Point. The officials inquired who "Knight" was and were informed that he was the surveyor’s dog. Apparently Ministry of Works documents indicate that Knight's Point was named after "the obscure dog of an obscure employee of the Ministry of Works."
Famous quotes containing the words knight and/or point:
“By a knight of ghosts and shadows
I summon’d am to a tourney
Ten leagues beyond the wide world’s end:
Methinks it is no journey.”
—Unknown. Tom o’ Bedlam’s Song (l. 57–60)
“Mildred Pierce: You look down on me because I work for a living, don’t you? You always have. All right, I work. I cook food and sell it and make a profit on it, which, I might point out, you’re not too proud to share with me.
Monte Beragon: Yes, I take money from you, Mildred. But not enough to make me like kitchens or cooks. They smell of grease.
Mildred Pierce: I don’t notice you shrinking away from a fifty- dollar bill because it smells of grease.”
—Ranald MacDougall (1915–1973)