Outram Glen and Traquair/Whare Creek. Cartwright Track – Taieri Recreational Tramping Club

Outram, Allanton, Floodbanks, Lee Stream, Traquair, Whare Creek – Information and Trips Library

6. 15/9/2014.
Just been reading some of your website on this short track. You may like to know that when we were talking to the gentleman at the museum last week, he told us that the track was put in to take supplies of piping etc up the burn for the Outram water supply. Also, if you go to the end of that track, & then cross the burn, there is a track up the other side, & up there is a valve, & some old piping. So it seems that the track has nothing to do with the old mill that was there, as it got it’s water from the race that you & I found in the paddocks above the road.
He has some old photos of the area as well, but they are not very good ones. There is also a water wheel [working] at the museum, which I think he said was the old mill wheel. – Ken

5. 10/9/2014. Trampers. Outram Glen & Traquair/Whare Creek.

After a cool start to the day, the weather warmed up, & we had a good walk along the Outram Glen track to Lee stream, [where we discussed the possibilities of crossing the stream without getting very wet] & back. We had a couple of stops along the way, one was with the owner of one of the houses up the Chalkies track road. He tells us that the grumpy one has now gone, & the new owners are quite ok with groups like ours going down [or up] the track through their properties, then down [or up] their driveway. I think permission should still be sought first though, especially for the first time at least.We arrived back at the car for lunch, & then proceeded along to the short track that runs in from the one way bridge at the start of the George King Memorial Drive. this was a new walk for some in the group, & started up a discussion on the old mill that used to be there.
On the way back out, we decided to go up into the museum grounds, as this was also new for some in the party. We struck up a good conversation with one of the gentlemen working on the site, & he was most helpful with info on the old mill, it’s whereabouts, & where to find some old relics.
We arrived back at the carpark, just before the hikers returned.We walked approx 12.5km [didn’t take the GPS on the short track.]
ave. 4.2km/hr. – Ken.

4. 5/5/2012. Whare Creek Outram Council weir. Ken and Ian.

On a fine Monday afternoon and with permission and advice from the landowners, we explored down the bush track below the power lines to arrive at the water race that supplied the water that drove the old Outram Glen Flour Mill back in the early 20th Century.

Following the pink markers brought us to the point leading steeply down below the race to the creek and a weir. From Jim Sime’s later information, this was the Outram Council’s weir and pipe line to supply water for the Outram Water Supply tank, located above the Taieri Museum, now no longer in use. The weir was designed so that flood debris would wash right over it.

Old Outram Council Weir and piping, no longer in use.

Mr Sime said that the Flour Mill water race, higher up the bank, which he explored on an earlier occasion, leads on for a considerable distance to disappear at the face of a rock bluff, with no indication evident of how the fluming would have had to have been attached to the sheer rock. Mr Sime thinks that a pool yet further upstream at a streams’ confluence may well have been where the race might have begun.

Ken pic. Upstream from the weir, the creek winds round to the left.

3. 18/4/2012. Trampers. Outram Glen & Traquair/Whare Creek.

Seven of us took to the Outram Glen – Lee Stream track on an overcast & cool morning. We decided to have morning tea at Lee Stream, so we set off at a good pace, & we soon warmed up. The sun was out at Lee Stream, so a leisurely break was in order. We made our way back to the glen where we had lunch, & then we moved the cars down to the Traquair Burn bridge.

We made the short walk to the start of the Traquair Burn track & along this to the end, where we did a bit of exploring up the small tributary stream on the left. This quickly ran out of easily negotiated terrain, so we went back to the track end, & Ken went exploring up the Burn a bit further to see if it was possible to go upstream.

We returned to the cars via the Outram machinery museum grounds, where we had a good look around. – Ken

2. 23/4/2008. Trampers. Outram Glen & Traquair/Whare Creek.

Six trampers turned up at the car-park following a very stormy night to learn that the leaders, Ria and Hazel had, happily as it turned out, decided on Outram Glen instead of Whare Flat. They had carried out three Whare Flat recces only to find on each occasion tracks too overgrown to clear. We were delighted to find the reported upgrade of the initial flat (mostly) part of the Outram Glen track had been widened and metalled making for two-abreast walking. The remaining steeper bit however was literally, according to a DoC notice, “maintained to only route standard”. It was! But we made good progress arriving at the Lee Stream terminus at 11. It was there that Doug and Hazel discovered wild potatoes

Gathering potatoes near Lee Stream outlet.

of a very good size which Doug lugged back down the track for his meal table.
We lunched below the Taieri Historical Museum area prior to exploring a newly-cleared track up alongside the Traquair (or Whare) Stream – a new discovery for most of the group. Ian recounted how his Grandfather and family had owned the Flour Mill in a small area across the stream from 1911-1913 (the original Outram Glen), now buried under the present road corner alignment: a place once renowned for its gardens and picnic area for locals. Two houses, a mill, a fountain and an electric generator (which had earlier powered Outram’s street lights) as well as gardens had occupied the area. The buildings were destroyed by fire in 1918.

Fallen coloured deciduous leaves on an open area of the track would have kindled a painter’s imagination. We returned from where the track finally petered out, left wondering where it might have continued to in the past. Another satisfying day. – Ian

1. 23/4/2008 Leaders: Ria L, Hazel

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