The Hawksbill Creek Agreement: The definitive report on the creation of Freeport, Grand Bahama.

The ground-breaking 1955 agreement between the Bahamas Government and American investor Wallace Groves triggered the transformation of Grand Bahama from a marginal out-island into the jewel of the Caribbean.

In less than a decade, the planned city of Freeport emerged from the once Crown-owned pine barrens surrounding Hawksbill Creek. A deep-water harbour was dredged, roads paved, factories built, and a ship bunkering terminal opened. The addition of an airport, marinas, beach-front hotels, championship golf courses and casino gambling, saw tourists flock to the island paradise.

In return for his investment and ingenuity, Groves and the businesses licensed by his Grand Bahama Port Authority operated free from taxation of any kind or from government interference. Remarkably, even responsibility for the building of schools, hospitals and public utilities was devolved to Groves and his private firm.

A seismic political shift in 1967 saw the democratic overthrow of the entrenched all-white Bahamian government which had granted Groves such unprecedented powers. In its place came the more representative and predominantly black Progressive Liberal Party. Having campaigned on a ticket of social, economic and political equality, it inevitably set its sights on the private enclave of Freeport, Grand Bahama.

Party leader and accomplished lawyer Lynden Pindling successfully petitioned for a Royal Commission to review the Hawksbill Creek Agreement and the administration of Freeport. The resulting report and recommendations, reproduced in this book, provide a valuable record and fascinating insight into this defining period of Bahamian history.