The making of Hamilton

There was not a decent street or footpath in Hamilton; they had creeks and watercourses in every direction.[1]

Truly, the place looked deserted and miserable, no one to be seen but poor old Murphy and his double team dragging a barrow load of coal through the yielding sands into which the wheels of his dray....were sinking almost to the axle.[2] 

These were just some of the challenges facing Hamilton’s first Municipal Council in 1872.