Racemans Track, Weir, Origins

In 1876 a report was written for the Dunedin City Council outlining the various options available for the supply of water to the low-lying areas in the city. The two options available were the Leith Valley supply which was to be very expensive, or the Silverstream supply which would be cheap and effective but would supply water to only the low levels.

In December 1877, during the on-going debate over the two systems there came a dry spell and Ross Creek Reservoir was so low that a fire in the city drained the reservoir. This incident served to motivate a decision and in December 1877 the Silverstream project was decided on.

By 1880 13 miles of water race was constructed out of a total of 18 miles and in 1881 it consisted of 29 km of winding open earth ditch 3 to 4 feet across, timber sluices, tunnels, weirs and steel pipes. It began at the top weir on Silver Stream and wound around the western slopes of Swampy Summit, Flagstaff and Three Mile Hill to the Southern Reservoir in Kaikorai Valley. It was opened on 15th December, 1881. All eastern tributaries of Silver Stream from the top weir to the Three Mile Hill Road were diverted into the open race by small masonry inlets.

Water shortages still recurred from time to time and it was soon found that the Silverstream scheme was not as wonderful as previously thought. In times of heavy rain the open water-race could not cope with the volume of water while there was not enough storage at the Southern Reservoir for a long period of heavy draw-off.

In 1895 it was decided that additional pumping and storage was required. The final location for a pumping station was at Powder Creek. In 1920 an electric pump was installed at the bottom weir, pumping water up a pipeline and into the water-race when needed. Apart from in 1890, it was not used again until 1928. By 1933 the population growth and the increase in water use made it practical to appoint a full-time attendant at the pumping station.

Since the early 1940s, land subsidence and the need for constant maintenance resulted in much of the open water-race being replaced with pipeline. The water-race in this area of tracks was the only major part that was not piped. Following a severe flood in 1957, the water-race above the pumping station was closed. After this, water for the race was pumped from the pumping station directly up the hill into the open water race.

The Silver Stream Water-Race was abandoned in the late 1960s. The current pumping station moves water along a buried pipeline following a new route to the Southern Reservoir.

In the late 1980s the Track Clearing Group began to re-open and develop the Silver Stream Water-Race Tracks. This group, with the assistance from the WEA over 50s Tramping Club continues to do great work in maintaining these tracks. The late Steve Amies was the founder of both groups and instrumental in re-opening the tracks.

Other matters receiving attention during this time were the afforestation of the water reserves and the detection and prevention of pollution. Considerable planting was done around the Leith and Silverstream catchments. The aim of this policy was commercial as well as functional. It was claimed that afforestation kept down noxious weeds, kept the area free from stock and rabbits, and increased the efficiency of the area as a water catchment as well as increasing the beauty of the country.

Since 1948 the open water race has been progressively replaced with a pipeline. The catchment lies to the West of the Flagstaff-Silverpeak divide, and comprises 4275 hectares which is largely council owned with much of it in native bush, some in tussock and some in exotic plantation.

– Adapted From City Forests Ltd hard copy information sheet and DoC Silver Stream Water-Race Tracks.

Pineapple Track: Information

In Leith Valley, where Otago’s first industry – sawmilling – is reputed to have started about the 1860s, is the start of the old Pineapple Track.
Originally, it was named Ross Track, after Archibald Hilson Ross, who owned most of the land in the vicinity. In the early 1920s, Mr Oscar Balk, first president of the Otago Tramping Club, led parties of trampers up this route. At the top of a rather steep section, the parties would stop to rest and often refresh themselves with a tin of pineapple. This tin was sometimes left hanging on a tree or fence, and the track came to be called the Pineapple Track.
The line of the Pineapple Walkway has deviated from the original track in places to provide more scenic variation.
The original vegetation of the area has been modified as a result of early milling, burning and stock grazing, but remnants of the milled species (podocarps) still remain. Rimu, miro, totara and matai are found in isolated pockets, mainly in damp gullies. Even so, the overall distribution of plant species retains some semblance of natural order with the larger forest trees growing at lower altitudes. Podocarp broad-leaved forest type occurs with shrub species which grade out into Dracophyllum shrub land and ultimately tussock grassland communities on the summit area.
Some common plants: fuchsia, pepper tree, lemonwood, broadleaf, totara, five’finger, wineberry, lancewood, Muehlenbeckia, Dracophyllum, Coprosma, Hebe, and wild spaniard tussock.
THere are many varieties of birds in the bush areas where there is an ample food supply to sustain many nectar-, berry-, and insect-eating native birds.
Some of these are: New Zealand pigeon, bellbird, fantail, tomtit, brown creeper, tui, silvereye, rifleman and pipit.

Grahams Bush Botanical Information (1988)

A top-down description:
From across the Old Mount Cargill Road from the Organ Pipes track entrance, the top section of the walk is very steep, but now relieved by an excellent set of steps. For much of the descent into the gully the walk passes through dense stands of manuka and kanuka. Both have small pointed leaves. Most of the trees are of even size and height. This implies they are even aged and grew up at about the same time. Equally important is the fact that no young kanuka is growing beneath the adult trees. In places many other species of native trees and fauna are growing. This is because kanuka seed needs light to germinate and not enough filters through the canopy. Other seed such as lemonwood is not so light-demanding. These young plants will eventually grow up through the kanuka to become a new forest canopy.
The widespread dominance of the blotchy-leaved pepperwood tells us more of the forest’s history. It is very unpalatable to stock and generally thrives when stock eats out the other plant species. Until recently stock have been common in this bush.

It is also interesting to note how dry this slope is. This stands in sharp contrast to the cooler gully at the bottom of the hill. A bridge spans the creek here, about 20-30 minutes from the carpark. Beyond this are more mature patches of forest.

Fuchsia (with orange bark) predominates in this valley, while little kanuka can been seen. A good variety of ferns thrive here in the moist conditions, the most distinctive of which are the tall tree ferns. The one with milky-coloured frond stalks is the silver tree fern.

Just 2-3 minutes beyond the bridge is a clearing. From it the hill just descended is apparent. More of the story becomes obvious. The whole hillside is of an even aged kanuka. Above nearer the road one sees old macrocarpas.

Kanuka and manuka often thrive after fire or in areas cleared either by humans or nature. Could it be that this hillside was once cleared, and that maybe the macrocarpas indicate an old homestead site – a base for a farm now abandoned and reverting to native forest?

In such a role kanuka is a successional species; i.e. it thrives after disturbance allows light into the forest floor. In time it gets over-topped by other forest species and becomes replaced with more mature forest.

An example of this mature forest that once covered this hill and what will once again be seen is 10 minutes further down the track.

One cannot fail to be impressed by the huge boles in the rimus (with hammer bark) and miros (with soft green leaves and dark mossy trunks). These giants are survivors of a once extensive podocarp forest that covered most of the Dunedin district. Fortunately their poor shape precluded their being logged for timber and consequently they now serve as a seed source to re-vegetate the reserve in podocarps. The dominant trees forming the forest canopy in this area are kanuka.

A second small patch of these trees occurs a little below the second bridge. Beyond them further evidence of the impact of humans on the area is seen – hawthorns growing in the forest! These exotic trees from Europe add a new shade of green to the forest each spring. Being deciduous, like so many continental trees, they lose their leaves in summer and grow a new set in spring. In New Zealand the only common tree with this habit is the fuchsia – the orange shaggy-bark trees. Like kanuka, fuchsia is one of those successional species. Their roles are very similar but they fill them in different locations – fuchsia preferring damper cooler sites.

– Adapted from DoC hard-copy information sheet

Town Belt Article

The Town Belt is a green belt which surrounds the centre of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. Covering a total of over 200 hectares (490 acres), it extends around three sides of the city’s centre at a distance from it of some 1-3 km (1-2 mi) in a broad 7 km (4 mi) crescent from the Oval at Kensington in the south through the suburbs of Mornington, City Rise, Belleknowes, Roslyn, Maori Hill, Prospect Park, Glenleith, Woodhaugh, The Gardens and Dunedin North and the slopes of Signal Hill. The fourth side of the central city is bounded by the Otago Harbour.

One of the world’s oldest green belts, the Town Belt was planned in Scotland at the time of the advent of the Otago settlement in 1848.[1] Residential areas outside the belt became separate boroughs, and were not amalgamated with Dunedin until much later. The town belt now forms a break between the city’s inner and outer suburbs. The belt was originally a combination of native bush and scrubland, but is now largely replanted forest and open parkland. Many species of plant can be found in the belt, including tree fuchsia, lemonwood, lancewood, manuka, and broadleaf, and the forested area is home to many species of birds, including some uncommon and endangered species such as the kereru, eastern rosella, bellbird, tomtit, tui, rifleman, morepork, and shining cuckoo, and kotare.

A long, narrow road, Queens Drive, winds along much of the length of the belt and provides easy access to it for Dunedinites. Queens Drive is linked to many of the city’s main streets, including Stuart Street and High Street. Numerous walkways lead through the bush and parks, and the belt is a popular recreation area for Dunedinites.

The Town Belt includes many open areas and parks, including the Kensington Oval, Dunedin Southern Cemetery, Montecillo Ground, Unity Park, Mornington Ground, Jubilee Park, Belleknowes Golf Course, Robin Hood Park, Littlebourne Ground, Prospect Park, Woodhaugh Gardens, the North Ground, Dunedin Botanic Gardens, Dunedin Northern Cemetery, Logan Park, and the University Oval.

Notable buildings and structures in the belt include Moana Pool, Olveston, Otago Boys’ High School, and the Beverly-Begg Observatory.

– From Wikipedia.

North Taieri (Wairongoa) Saline-Chalybeate Springs

NORTH TAIERI (WAIRONGOA) SALINE -CHALYBEATE SPRINGS.
A NEW DUNEDIN ATTRACTION.

By Murray Aston,

My rambles one day last week took me to a most delightful neighbourhood, and included a visit to the Wairongoa medicinal springs, a short account of which from my pen may be acceptable to readers of the Witness.

Some six months ago Mr Alexander Thomson, the well-known aerated water manufacturer of Dunedin, acquired by purchase 160 acres of land, taking the precaution to include the whole of the watershed so as to render any danger of contamination to the wells by undesirable neighbours an impossibility. The property is near the North Taieri township, and in the vicinity of Salisbury, the seat of Mr Donald Reid. It is distant some three and a-half miles from Wingatui or Mosgiel; but there is a flag station only a few minutes’ walk from it on the Central Otago railway. The wells are located in a gully of most romantic and picturesque loveliness. The waving toi-tois, the soft-hued ti-tri, the fern, now all changing in different shades of delightful colour, combined with tho blue distance of the mountain ranges, enchant and sooth the mind. Lizards of different species and colour darted across the path; small flocks of goldfinches, remarkable for the brilliancy of their plumage and erratic flight, momentarily arrested the attention, and huge butterflies lazily sunning themselves in their gorgeous attire lent an additional charm to the situation. A particularly clear and beautiful stream which runs through the property must not be forgotten, and trout are not an altogether unknown quantity therein. A few years ago the busy gold miner, I heard, was making good money on this same little creek, but his operations entailed serious inconvenience to the owners of the land, so he was stopped.

I found a large building for bottling waters nearly completed, with dwelling house, stabling, &c, and a fine new steam engine and boiler already on the premises. The principal (sic) well has been enclosed in a handsome red brick tower with white facings, on concrete base, the architecture being of the Tudor period with a particularly attractive castellated roof. Each spring, of which there are several, has been followed to its source in the bed-rock, which is white conglomerate of pure, crystalline formation, then concreted to the surface and bricked over. One well however has been left open for the use of visitors, of whom 30 or 40 at a time, many of them bicyclists are frequently gathered together, the proprietor relying on the well-known good sense of the public not to abuse the privilege by any unthinking act of larrikinism. The various springs contain different qualities and degrees of strength, but the water in each may, experts say, be described in scientific language as saline chalybeate. The early settlers, 30 years ago, were not slow in discovering the medicinal properties of the springs, and anaemic persons, dyspeptics, children with worms, rheumatics and people over-worked or suffering from the evil effects of dissipation are said to have derived great benefit from the Wairongoa waters. While I was at the place a man with a sack on his back approached me, and in the course of conversation stated that he had just walked out from Dunedin, 10 miles distant, for a supply of water. His sack held three large stone bottles, and having filled them it was his intention to walk back. He had been a dyspeptic, he said, and the doctors could do nothing for him; but a friend had advised him to try these waters and in one week he had derived benefit, and now, in three weeks, he was walking 20 miles in a day for the precious liquid.

It is the opinion of experts that the water travels a great distance— viz., from the Maungatoka mountain—the “Boulders Hill” of the settlers; and that it comes under enormous pressure is evidenced by the large volume of carbonic acid gas it contains which it is the intention of the proprietor to collect as it rises to the surface of the wells, store in gasometers, and utilise the supply for re-aerating the water; and a noteworthy factor in connection with the supply is that it never varies in quantity either in the driest or wettest season; and it is believed to be inexhaustible. Mr Thomson thinks that in a month from the present time he will be able to deliver supplies to those in need of it. He expects to do a large trade with the public through druggists and will supply them in syphons as well as in the ordinary bottles. The price, moreover, will be sufficiently low to bring the water within reach of persons of moderate means.

I need hardly add that I partook of water from the various springs, and I experienced great pleasure therefrom, as the effect was distinctly exhilarating to the system, and for hours afterwards I experienced a most agreeable flavour on my palate. I venture, therefore, to predict a brilliant future for the North Taieri district. Ere long a big hotel on the spot will become a necessity, and Dunedin should prove an attractive centre for tourists from all parts by reason of what I firmly believe to be its invaluable springs at Wairongoa.

– Extracted from Papers Past, Otago Daily Times, 6 April 1895, page 7.