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