'The Industrious Heart' celebrates the centennial of the establishment of the Borough of New Plymouth. A century ago the little town was recovering from the disastrous effects of the land wars: it was struggling to cope with basic problems such as roading, communications, the supply of essential facilities, fire protection, law and order. It was the market town of a rich agricultural area.

It is more than a record of local government's successes and failures. It is the story of 140 years of growth, prosperity, war and peace, triumph and disaster from the time the first settlers arrived at Ngamotu until the present day.

'The Industrious Heart' is the first attempt to outline the history of this thriving city and its 38000 people facing the 1980s on a wave of potential prosperity based on exploitation of nearby vast deposits of fossil fuels.

Hardback, first edition 1981, 350pages, good condition, small wear in dust jacket, little sunning in spine