Archives For Historic

Lower Acheron Historic Bridge restoration

Department of Conservation —  May 6, 2013 — 1 Comment

The Lower Acheron Suspension Bridge in South Marlborough was built by engineering students from Canterbury University in 1945, with their brief being to build a bridge that would take ‘one man on a horse at a gallop’.

Before and after

Before and after

Having been closed to the public for years, the historic bridge is now just about ready to be used again, thanks to a team of dedicated DOC workers from the region who spent an ‘abusively hot’ two weeks dismantling and rebuilding the bridge, while retaining its original character.

Replacing the decking.

Replacing the decking

Two workers in DOC uniforms removing the screw jack.

The screw jack enabled the removal of the tower

All gear was taken in by road, with a helicopter used to carry over the timber and equipment needed. This involved a couple of early mornings for staff, who made up for a short sleep with an al fresco cooked breakfast beside the Acheron River.

Staff had attended a harness use and fall arrest training course before the project, and received further instruction on rope rescue at the site.

Planning and setting up fall arrest systems that would be effective at all times and still allow the staff to move around on the bridge was all part of the challenge, and only the occasional nut or bolt (and maybe a drill bit…) was lost over the edge of the bridge!

Screw jacks were used to take the weight of the main cables (which were still in good working order), while each tower was removed, rebuilt and reinstated. The steel connecting plates were able to be reused, but most nuts and bolts were new. Only one of the droppers, three transoms, about half the bearers and the decking was replaced – everything else was reused. The native beech wood was replaced with Blackbutt (Eucalyptus pilularis), a tough and strong hardwood timber.

Five DOC workers sitting and standing around two DOC utes sharing some food.

Well-earned breakfast

The bridge is part of the ‘Molesworth Journey’, an attraction that incorporates short walks, lookout points, picnic areas and other historic structures into the drive between Blenheim and Hanmer, through Molesworth Station. It provides visitor access to the other side of the river for fishermen, walkers and swimmers, and will continue to be maintained as a historic asset.

In Historic, Nelson/Marlborough , , ,
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Well-travelled Antarctic cabin rides again

Sarah Mankelow —  March 20, 2013 — 3 Comments

Swinging below the crane, a wee cabin linked to Scott’s fatal Antarctic expedition looked more like a cubby than a 100-year-old piece of history.

“It looks like a child’s playhouse!” remarked its ‘owner’ Valerie Crichton.

Scott's cabin is moved by crane from the earthquake crumbled cliff in Sumner.

DOC’s Murray Lane helps guide the hut as it’s lifted out of the spot where it has sat for the last 100 years

But as Grant Campbell, DOC Community Relations Programme Manager eloquently said, “We’ve lost so much heritage in Christchurch, even the wee ones count.”

The hut, which for the past 40 years has been under the care of the Crichton family in Sumner, has been pulled from the brink of an earthquake-crumbled cliff top after being vested with DOC.

It’s the culmination of lots of long talks and negotiations by Grant and Community Relations Ranger Cody Frewin with the Crichtons, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) and the Christchurch City Council.

Valerie Crichton said, “It’s taken more than two years to get traction on this. Then we met with DOC and it was ‘can do’. That ‘can do’ was music to our ears.”

Scott's cabin is hoisted by crane on to a truck.

The hut had to be lifted high around pitched garage roofs and powerlines

Cody said, “I’m really proud of what we have achieved.”

Grant, Cody and the Crichtons were all onsite to watch the cabin be retrieved and trucked to Godley Head by contractors HGM Construction. David Crichton pacing back and forth was reminiscent of an expectant father.

“I have mixed feelings about this event,” said David. “It would have been nice to stay here but this is the next best thing.”

The cabin began life as a meteorological hut taken to the Antarctic by the Terra Nova for Captain Scott in 1911. But it was brought back to Lyttelton in 1912, still in its wrapping.

Scott's cabin makes its way from Sumner to Godley Head by road.

The convoy makes its way through the narrow streets of Sumner before heading up the hill (you seen the road in the background)

It was erected on Clifton Hill above Sumner in the garden of the expedition agent, Sir Joseph Kinsey and was home to the wife of Captain Scott’s right hand-man Dr Edward Wilson, Oriana Wilson, for a year until she received the news of his death in February 1913. The hut was also known as ‘Uncle Bill’s Cabin’ after Dr Wilson, whose nickname was Bill.

David Crichton used the cabin as his study, and later it was a place of refuge after the September quake, when the couple felt nervous about sleeping in their own house. This fear was proved founded when the February quakes bought their house down, while the cabin rolled with the quakes like “a wee boat,” said Valerie.

In a press release, Minister of Conservation Hon Dr Nick Smith said, “I’d like to acknowledge the Crichton’s vision and generosity in gifting the hut, as well as the assistance provided by CERA and the Christchurch City Council in making the removal possible.”

The cabin is place at the new Godley Head site by crane.

The hut will sit on the old parade grounds on Godley Head temporarily until it’s restored and resource consents are sorted for its final resting place with a sea view

“For a building to have travelled so far and survived so much, it would have been a tragedy to have left it to be demolished.”

The hut has been taken to public conservation land at Godley Head where it will be restored and eventually opened to the public, in a spot with sea views as it was on Kinsey Terrace.

In Historic , , , , , ,
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Not your typical thieves in gold-mining era campsites

Department of Conservation —  January 21, 2013 — 2 Comments

New Zealand has an extensive history of gold mining. The principal New Zealand gold fields were Coromandel, Nelson/Marlborough, Central Otago and West Coast. DOC has as many as 1000 gold-mining sites on lands it manages, and some of these are currently used as campsites.

Grant Jacobs the author of the blog, “Code for life”, shares a recent experience he had while on a camping trip at a gold-mining era campsite. He writes*:

“[When] camping in New Zealand, small items left lying around are at risk from thieves. I was reminded of this whilst sitting on the foundation stones of what was once an old gold miner’s hut, the iron remains of the roof and perhaps chimney at my feet, reading a novel with my tent pitched on the other side of the clearing where the thief stalked.”

Tent across the clearing at an old gold mining campsite. Photo taken by Grant Jacobs.


Tent across the clearing at an old gold mining campsite

“Some of these camping grounds are now, and probably were then, home to indigenous thieves. As I sat on the foundation of the miners hut, my back against a tree, I became aware that one such cheeky thief was prowling my tent on the other side of the little clearing.”

A weka under the outer fly of the tent looking for items to steal. Photo taken by Grant Jacobs.


A weka under the outer fly of the tent looking for items to steal

“Those not familiar with weka might think that they would only steal food, but stories say that weka will steal seemingly anything portable that attracts their attention. Of the non-edible objects, lore has it that a bit like the gold miners, they prefer shiny things.”

Weka have a bit of a reputation for pilfering small objects. They will take the objects to the nearest cover to investigate them. For this reason it is best not to chase weka but to simply watch where they go and retrieve the objects a little later.

Because of its scavenging habit, the weka can be problematic for conservationists. Some subspecies are threatened, but moving them to offshore islands can disrupt other threatened wildlife species. For example, weka released onto Codfish Island, where they haven’t lived in recent times, threatened the viability of the Cook’s petrels there and had to be removed.

Make sure you check out Grant’s full blog post.

*All text and photos from the blog “Code for Life” are copyrighted content of Grant Jacobs.

In Camping, Coromandel, Historic, Native animals, Nelson/Marlborough, Otago, West Coast , , , , , , ,
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