Registration Status
Registered – Review Initiated
Registration Type
Historic Place Category 1
Register Number
7176
Date Registered
23-Jun-1994
Location Description
The Percy Burn Viaduct will be closed until further notice from the end of April 2013. A bypass track is being constructed.
Legal Description
Legal Road, Southland Land District
Extent of Registration
Extent of registration is Pt Legal Road and the structure described as Percy Burn Viaduct thereon, and its fixtures and fittings, extending from 1160857E/4863392N (west) to 1160951E/4863346N (east)
City/District Council
Southland District
Region
Southland Region
Summary
The information below is from the original registration report.
The Port Craig Sawmill, owned by the Marlborough Timber Company from 1918-29, is recalled as being the most ambitious native sawmilling enterprise in New Zealand, introducing American and Canadian plant and logging equipment. Despite the isolation of the Southland coast, it was thought economically viable to log the area and transport timber by sea. The main mill opened in 1921 and in the mid 1920s, output reached 1800 cubic metres per month, the largest output of any sawmill in New Zealand. Financial disaster, however, struck in 1928. The entire operation had been over-capitalised and debt was too high for the company to survive a downturn in the industry. The mill closed early in 1929. An attempt was made to reopen a year later but failed.
A bush tramline had been built for the purpose of transporting felled logs to the sawmill, and then on to the sea. Four wooden viaducts were built in order that the trams could cross that number of large gullies which run roughly parallel to the coast. They were the Percy Burn, the Sandhill Point, the Edwin Burn and the Francis Burn Viaducts. The Percy Burn Viaduct was named after the stream it crosses. The tender price was 5000 pounds.
During the first quarter of the twentieth century, at least 15 substantial wooden viaducts were built for bush trams. All have been dismantled or destroyed with the exception of the four Port Craig viaducts which today serve trampers in the Waitutu Forest.
Historical Significance
While sawmilling operations in Southland never reached the scale of those on the West Coast and in Northland, the Port Craig bush tramline and its four viaducts were nevertheless fundamental to the operation of the Port Craig Sawmill in the 1920s. The bush tramline is significant in its own right in that it is the only major tram system in New Zealand which retains its entire route, including branch lines. All four viaducts are also extant and are the only large tram viaducts remaining in New Zealand. They should not be considered typical of this bridge type but have been described as representing 'the very best of the bridge builders' trade'. The largest of the four is the Percy Burn Viaduct.
Physical Significance
Aesthetic Value:
Crossing the Percy Burn Stream at a height of 36 metres, the Percy Burn Viaduct sits in attractive regenerating bush.
Architectural Value:
The Percy Burn Viaduct is the highest and longest sawmilling tramway viaduct in the Southern Hemisphere and no larger one is known in the world. In addition, it is the highest and longest extant wooden viaduct in New Zealand and again no larger one is known in the world. Of other wooden viaducts built in New Zealand, the Belmont (1880) was higher (52.4 metres/172 feet) and the Ormondville was longer (280.7 metres/921 feet) but these were both demolished (1907 and 1904 respectively) before the Percy Burn Viaduct was built.
TOWNSCAPE/LANDMARK VALUE:
Crossing the Percy Burn Stream at a height of 36 metres, the Percy Burn Viaduct sits in attractive regenerating bush.
Construction Professionals
Notable Features
Length, height and wooden construction.
Construction Dates
- Original Construction: 1923 (circa)
- Modification: 1970 - 1980
- Modification: 1973
- Other: 1991 (circa)
Construction Details
The Percy Burn Viaduct is a wooden trestle viaduct. All main members are constructed of Australian hardwood (Jarrah has been suggested). It has round timber piles and some mass concrete foundations. It is diagonally braced with rails which are presumably steel.
Other Information
The information in this entry is from the original registration report.
This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1993. This report includes text from the original Proposal for Classification report considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration.
Report Written By
NZHPT
Report Completed
10-Feb-1994
Information on
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