Napier was originally almost surrounded by water, whether it was sea, swamp or tidal lagoon.
Reclamation of the city land had started in the late 1800s, but nature - by way of the 1931 Hawke's Bay Earthquake, in 2.5 minutes - raised the inner harbour seafloor by 2m, giving back
Napier about 2200ha of land.
Shellfish and fish trapped in shallow pools, or lying on exposed seabed after the earthquake gave off such a pungent odour, the smell was unbearable - and if the wind was blowing, could apparently be smelt in Hastings.
The raised seabed of the inner harbour lagoon however still had to be drained and the sea salt removed before it could be used. This work began in 1934, under a scheme devised by Napier surveyor, Guy Rochfort. A large outfall channel (pictured) was created to drain water to the sea and smaller channels to drain the salt. The Tutaekuri River was diverted away from the old inner harbour lagoon to flow instead out to sea at the present Waitangi location. This work was completed in 1936.
Napier, which feared it would never reach a population of 30,000, now had land to expand.
