Hamilton Jet Boat Engine

 This is an early model Hamilton jet boat made by Mahan Boatbuilders of Sumner, Christchurch, around 1954.

The inventor, Bill Hamilton (1899-1978), grew up on a high country sheep farm in South Canterbury and developed a love of water with the numerous mountain-fed streams and rivers. In the 1920s he ran his own sheep station in the Mackenzie Country of the South Island. He was passionate about innovation and engineering, and fulfilled a long-held ambition to design a boat which could travel upstream on shallow, shingle-bottomed rivers. He experimented by adapting jet propulsion to boat propulsion. His invention changed the face of river recreation throughout the world.