Port Craig
{{for|the village in Scotland|Port na Craig}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=March 2024}}
File:Remains_of_Lidgerwood_hauler_at_Port_Craig.JPG
Port Craig is located along the south coast (Te Waewae Bay) of the South Island New Zealand near Tuatapere.
It was a small logging town born in 1916, with 200+ men women and children living there in its prime.
Like other New Zealand bush towns, Port Craig was inhabited by hardy kiwi bushmen and their families, recent immigrants and a few others trying to keep clear of the law. The Marlborough Timber Company had a large scale plan to log one of the countries last significant coastal forests. The company planned big, they built the Dominion's largest sawmill, an extensive tramway system, port facilities and township all without road access. The bush was worked by the Lidgerwood overhead logging cable system (gantry) that weighed over 50 tonnes. The immense size of the gantry meant that it was very difficult to relocate in the inhospitable forest and after one major shift, the gantry was left redundant, crippling the local logging industry.
All that is left of the town is considerable relics including the gantry base, a large English built wince (built in Hull) that operated on the wharf and thousands of bricks. There is also a fairly complete bakers oven and the original school building that is now used as a trampers hut.
History
= Whaling =
Mussel Beach had the remains of a whaling station and a 6-oared whaling boat in 1877.{{Cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT18721202.2.19|title=Ooverland from Preservation Inlet.(Otago Daily Times, 1872-12-02)|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz|language=en|access-date=2018-06-24}}
= Tracks =
The track from Bluecliffs via Mussel Beach to Puysegur was improved when a phone line was erected in 1908,{{Cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19080219.2.33|title=The Destruction of Native Birds (Southland Times, 1908-02-19)|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz|language=en|access-date=2018-06-24}} the first base camp being at Mussel Beach.{{Cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19120918.2.124|title=A LINEMAN'S LIFE ON THE PUYSEGUR TRACK. (Press, 1912-09-18)|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz|language=en|access-date=2018-06-24}} Cages were installed to cross the major rivers.{{Cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW19100727.2.136|title= Local and General (Otago Witness, 1910-07-27)|website= paperspast.natlib.govt.nz|language=en|access-date=2018-06-24}} It was further improved in 1919 and 1920 to a horse track from Bluecliffs to Port Craig.{{Cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WSTAR19190404.2.7|title=WALLACE MATTERS. (Western Star, 1919-04-04)|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz|language=en|access-date=2018-06-25}}{{Cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19190320.2.18|title=Southland Times, 1919-03-20|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz|language=en|access-date=2018-06-25}}{{Cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19201025.2.53|title=PUBLIC WORKS ESTIMATES (Otago Daily Times, 1920-10-25)|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz|language=en|access-date=2018-06-25}}
= Logging =
File:Port_Craig_sawmill_and_tramway.jpg, brought along the 14 km tramway|alt=]]
The logging days commenced in 1917 and continued till about 1929, when it shut down in the face of the looming depression.
== Tramway ==
Work started on the 3 ft 6 in (NZR gauge) Port Craig tramway in 1917. It ran south from Port Craig, parallel to the coast, for {{Convert|14.6|km||abbr=on}} to Wairaurāhiri River,{{Cite web|url=https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/fiordland/places/fiordland-national-park/heritage-sites/port-craig-sawmill-and-settlement-site/|title=Historic Port Craig Sawmill and Settlement Site|website=Department of Conservation|language=en|access-date=2018-06-23}} with a further {{Convert|9.8|km||abbr=on}} of branches.{{Cite web|url=http://www.heritage.org.nz/the-list/details/9234|title= Port Craig Sawmill and Settlement |website= www.heritage.org.nz|language=en-nz|access-date=2018-06-23}} It extended over a mile from the mill by 1921{{Cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19210929.2.65|title=Port Craig. (Otago Daily Times, 1921-09-29)|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz|language=en|access-date=2018-06-23}} and was extended in 1924.{{Cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19240731.2.118|title= News in Brief. (Otago Daily Times, 1924-07-31)|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz|language=en|access-date=2018-06-23}} The line was worked by steam locomotives from 1919,{{Cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19190321.2.32|title= Value of Homing Pigeons (Evening Star, 1919-03-21)|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz|language=en|access-date=2018-06-23}} including the largest bush locomotive built by A & G Price, a Meyer type Ar 0-4-4-0T,{{Cite web|url=http://www.trainweb.org/nzgearedlocomotives/i&d-p-2.html|title=Images & Drawings - A & G Price Ltd. - Page 2|website= www.trainweb.org|access-date=2018-06-23}} which was on the line from 1926 to 1931.{{Cite web|url=http://www.trainweb.org/nzgearedlocomotives/owners.html|title=Owners|website=www.trainweb.org|access-date=2018-06-23}} The rails were removed in 1939.{{Cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19390321.2.25|title=News of the Day. (Auckland Star, 1939-03-21)|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz|language=en|access-date=2018-06-23}}
Nature
The area is remote from any big towns or districts, and this led Port Craig to keep surrounding natural environment at its beauty. Southern right whales and Hector's dolphins sometimes can be seen cavorting close to shores. As early as 1896 it was observed that ferrets seemed to have exterminated weka and kākāpō as far west as the Waitutu River.{{Cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT18960328.2.56 |title= Overland from Puysegur Point to Orepuki. (Otago Daily Times, 1896-03-28)|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz|language=en|access-date=2018-06-24}}
Walking Tracks
Parts of the tramway were cleared in 2009 to form a route for the Hump Ridge and South Coast Tracks and the school became a hut.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ipenz.org.nz/heritage/conference/papers/Egerton_R.pdf|title=Heritage Management at the Port Craig Sawmill Complex: Successes and Challenges |last=Egerton|first=Rachael E|date=2009|website=IPENZ|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522191300/http://www.ipenz.org.nz/heritage/conference/papers/Egerton_R.pdf|archive-date=2010-05-22|url-status=dead}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |last= Bird |first=Warren |title= Viaducts Against the Sky : the Story of Port Craig |publisher= Craig Printing Co Ltd |date= 1998 |type= Paperback |isbn= 978-09-0862-971-8}}
- {{cite thesis |last= McMechan |first= Alistair |date= 1997 |title= Timber Town: A History of Port Craig |type= BA (Hons)|publisher= University of Otago}}
External links
- [http://www.topomap.co.nz/NZTopoMap/nz13191/Port-Craig/Southland 1:50,000 map]
- [http://hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/22190 Photo of Lidgerwood hauler about 1921]
- [https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/fiordland/places/fiordland-national-park/things-to-do/huts/port-craig-school-hut/ School hut]
{{coord|46|13|S|167|21|E|display=title|region:NZ_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki}}
{{Fiordland}}
Category:History of the Southland Region