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Sir William Chronology

 

1899

Charles William Fielden (Bill) Hamilton is born on July 26 at Ashwick Station, South Canterbury, New Zealand. Son of William Fielden Hamilton and Cora Blakeney (nee Cannon), half-brother to Cyril Blackeney, brother to Leila and Catherine (Kitty) Hamilton.

1906 -1916

Bill Hamilton attends Waihi School, then Christ's College in Christchurch

1912

Ashwick Station is subdivided and sold off. 820 acres were retained around the original homestead.

1916

Cyril Blackeney, who had been managing Ashwick Station, was killed in action in August. Bill left his schooling at Christ's College tomanage Ashwick.

1921

Bill Hamilton buys Irishman Creek Station in Central Otago for 16,000 pounds.

1923

Bill and his parents travel to England. Here he buys an Isle of Man Sunbeam motorcar, and meets Peggy Wills, who he marries in October 1923. They return together to New Zealand.

1924

Builds his first workshop at Irishman Creek, and buys his first lathe.

1925

Bill enters the Sunbeam at the New Zealand Motor Cup races in Auckland. Wins this 50-mile race at an average speed of 81.5 mph. Also claimed the Australasian Speed record as the first time that 100 mph was officially attained in Australasia. Over the next several years Bill competed in many more races and again broke the Australasian speed record, with 109.09 mph for the flying mile in 1928.

1926

Builds a generating plant complete with dam to provide electricity to the Irishman Creekhomestead and workshop. However, this was damaged by severe frosts the following winter, so Bill begins constructing a larger dam using a new earth-scooping machine he had designed and built.

1928 - 1935

During the Depression Bill takes on contracting work to help pay off his debts. Through this work he designs a number of machines, including a shingle loader, a water sprinkler, a hay lift, an air compressor and an air conditioning plant.

1930

Bill Hamilton enters a Bentley in three races at the Brooklands Easter Meeting in England, and creates a stir by winning them all.

1939 - 1943

Irishman Creek workshop expanded to produce munitions for the War effort while continuing to manufacture some earthmoving equipment.

1943

Designs and builds a loader-dozer, hydraulic pumps and an excavator.

1945

Opens an engineering business in Christchurch, New Zealand.

1947

Helped design and build the first rope ski tow in New Zealand.

1951

Bill rekindles his idea of a boat to navigate the shallow rivers near Irishman Creek Station. Initial designs use an air screw and retractable marine propeller, but these prove unsuccessful.

1954

Constructs his first jet using a centrifugal pump driven by a bevel gear. This he fits to a 3.5 metre plywood boat powered by a Ford 10 engine.
Bill hires engineer George Davison to work with him to produce a more efficient jet unit design. With this added expertise Bill's team makes rapid advances in waterjet propulsion systems.

1959

Bill and Peggy travel to the US, there to make the first upstream passage of a 160km stretch of the Colorado River running through the Grand Canyon.

1960

Bill suffers a broken arm while jetboating in New Zealand and is unable to make a return trip to the Colorado River for a 740km expedition down and up. Bill's son Jon is the only driver in the team able to tame the Colorado's worst rapid, Vulcan Rapid (also known as Lava Falls), and leads the group to the first ever up run of the river.

1961

William Hamilton is named on the Queen's Honours list with an Order of the British Empire (OBE). Its citation read: "For very valuable service in the field of engineering and especially in the design and construction of the jet-propelled motorboat."

1965

Bill retires from the company.

1974

William Hamilton is knighted for his "valuable services to manufacturing".

1978

On March 30, 1978, Sir Charles William Fielden (Bill) Hamilton dies at the age of 78.

1990

Sir William Hamilton is inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.

2004

Sir William Hamilton is inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame.