Port Craig Viaducts - Percy Burn Viaduct, historical photos
Shared by Central & Western Murihiku Southland Archive
Port Craig Viaducts - Percy Burn photos and history, unknown date: Image 1: Portrait view of Percy Burn Viaduct, looking through bush. Image 2: Landscape view of Percy Burn Viaduct, surrounded in bush. Image 3: Tramway tracks over a viaduct, presumed to be Percy Burn. The Percy Burn Viaduct is 36m High and 125m Long and was both the "biggest and best known bridge on the line", according to Warren Bird's 'Viaducts Against The Sky' book, which is available to borrow from the Waiau Memorial Library on the main road of Tūātapere. It was constructed by Chester Construction Limited of Invercargill, for around £6,000 (or $12,000), but the amount tendered for was too low and Edward Chester was to end up bankrupt over the deal, after he lost over £500 (or $1,000) over the more than a year it took to build. Previously known as Mussel Beach, Port Craig - which was named after two Craig's lives were lost in its making, was the brainchild of the Marlborough Timber Company. On finding that available forests of native bush to cut for logging were becoming much more scarce in places with access, when Māori land owners were willing to sell the cutting rights to native forests at the west of Te Waewae Bay on the South West Coast, the company jumped at the chance to obtain these. It was not long before there was a large village set up on the site, in the backwoods bush. The mill itself was to finally open 22.09.1921. In a bid to outdo all other logging operations, the company was to import an expensive and enormous 'Lidgerwood' overhead logging plant, plus a large steam operated log hauler which weighed 80 tonnes, which operated on overhead cables. With tramways being built through the bush for access to both the logging sites and the mill, many rivers (known as 'burns' in Scots), had to be crossed and so viaducts were built to accomplish this. These were, from small to large: 1. Edwin Burn - 50m L x 22m H 2. Francis Burn - 52m L x 14m H 3. Peter Burn - 59m L x 17m H 4. Percy Burn - 125m L x 36m H But, the operation was not to last long. Increasing competition from the West Coast, the depression and shockingly low prices for timber, took the Marlborough Timber Company out. It is recorded that during 1928, the steamer Ōreti took 140 workers and their families away and another around 60 men trekked out of the bush on foot. After another brief trial to run the mill in 1930, it closed permanently. As for the buildings, the school, was refitted as a hut for hikers, and the 4 viaducts, which were re-decked to be used by trampers, have had a huge restoration project completed on them by the Port Craig Viaducts Charitable Trust, to make them safe to be used by walkers. These now make up part of the Hump Ridge Track. In a nutshell, a short history of the area is below, more elsewhere: 1916 - MTC start project by erecting a wharf with a breakwater 1921 - The mill was to finally open 22.09.1921, adjacent to the village 1923 - construction starts on Port Craig Viaducts, including Percy Burn 1924 - delays in the construction cause problems, as relayed in news 1925 - Percy Viaduct is finally officially opened for transporting timber 1928 - a large gantry was built on the wharf, to load timber onto ships 1928 - Port Craig Timber Company collapses, workers ship out 1930 - Port Craig Mill briefly opens, but closes again within months 1985 - work begins on researching the Port Craig site in earnest 1990 - Idea of Hump Ridge Track first discussed by Promotions 1994 - Percy Burn Viaduct successfully repaired and reopened 1999 - Viaduct land became Fiordland National Park, DOC control 2001 - Hump Ridge Walking Track including Percy Burn Viaduct opens 2013 - Entered as list No. 9234 on Historic Places Trust (Heritage NZ) 2013 - Structural decay noted on viaduct, closed for safety reasons 2018 - After a 5 yr closure, Percy Burn Viaduct is re-opened again 2024 - Percy Burn Viaduct set to become part of newest Great Walk There are a lot more photos and information on Port Craig and the viaducts to come, so if this interests you, keep an eye out for them. If you or anyone you know has any more photos, information or accounts of Port Craig or the viaducts during the years, on any aspects of their closure, restoration, opening, historic or current use, the companies and people who worked and lived there, please share these in the comments section. You can do this by making a comment in the space provided under the image page. Please let us know if you have more records to add, they will add the heritage records we have.
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Title
Port Craig Viaducts - Percy Burn Viaduct, historical photos
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Maker
Unknown, someone in Aotearoa New Zealand
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Date made
unknown
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Subject
Western Southland, Tourism, Nature Walks, Environment, Port Craig, Port Craig Viaduct Trust, Port Craig Timber Company, Sawmilling, Viaducts, Bush Clearing & Tree Felling, Bush Tramways, South West Coast, Hump Ridge Track, Conservation, Department of (DOC), Hiking, Tramping, Hill Climbing, Native Bush, Tūātapere Hump Track, Wairaurahiri
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Additional information
Digital copy only in archive Preservation copy of original
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Rights
Public Domain
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Location
Main Rd, Tūātapere, next to the old Railway Station. We also belong to the internationally recognised 'Safe Space Alliance'.
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Central & Western Murihiku Southland Archive
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