Clyde Dam ~ The Human Cost

'In all the history of Otago and of New Zealand, in peace and in war, the Clutha proposals must rank as the cruellist and most premeditated. Conceived in departmental ambition, nourished in secrecy and permitted by political indifference for people, the Clutha proposals hardened into unpalatable fact.' ~ Paul Powell, 'Who Killed the Clutha?'

Lowburn's Welcome Home Hotel, built in 1869 and the social focus of the community, was demolished and the area was flooded, '60ft under.'

Harry Perriam, orchardist, Lowburn. His apricot and apple trees were uprooted before his land was flooded.

Shorty Sutherland, and Pythagoras the cat, Lowburn. 'Someone should have shot him (Muldoon) years ago. Me, I wouldn't waste my ammunition. You can tell him that from me.'

Isie Scott, Cromwell. 'I feel our heritage, the land, is being wasted.' She was forced to leave her home on the banks of the Clutha.

Gary Forster, Station Master, and Carl the dog, Cromwell. The Cromwell station was demolished and the line through the gorge to Clyde was pulled up by the end of 1978. (Carl sitting on engine)

Rachael and Fanny Short, Bannockburn. 'I wish they wouldn't change it.'

Harry Gair, Cromwell. 'I've told my nephew (George Gair, Minister of Energy), but he won't take any notice of me.'

Jane and Ted Lawrence, and June the cat, Bannockburn. 'They (the Ministry of Works) say they'll make this place beautiful.'

Charlie Perriam, Lowburn. 'One hundred years of family lost.' The most fertile areas of his land were flooded.

Keith Lake, Northburn. His winter feed land, near the Clutha, was drowned.

Doug Stout, Presbyterian Minister, Cromwell and Lowburn. The Lowburn Valley was flooded. The church was moved to higher ground.

Rabbiters, Pest Destruction Board, Cromwell. The valley behind them was re-shaped and flooded.

These profound, haunting photos recording the human cost of the Clyde dam were taken in May 1978 by highly acclaimed New Zealand photographer Robin Morrison (1944-1993). They are displayed here with the kind permission of Dinah Keir and Jake Morrison, who note that 'The plight of the Clutha was very close to Robin's heart, as were the lives and histories of the inhabitants.'

Lowburn ~ Sold Down The Reservoir

Lowburn residents outside the Welcome Home Hotel, 1978

The Lowburn community began as a prominent ferry landing during the early years of Central Otago's settlement, when travellers moved between the goldmining reefs of Bendigo and the township of Cromwell. A ferry or punt began operating on the Clutha River at Lowburn from about 1873, and the crossing, with its tree-lined approaches and picturesque setting became not only an important link between Cromwell and the lakes at Wanaka and Queenstown, but also a popular tourist excursion. A bridge was built in 1938 replacing the punt, and the occasion was celebrated by a banquet at the Lowburn Ferry Hotel followed by a dance at the Lowburn Hall.

So important was the ferry, that even after the bridge was built, the community was still referred to as Lowburn Ferry. Beyond the settlement at the crossing, the valley extending up the river contained some of the most productive farmland in Central Otago, and some of the most scenic. Orchards also filled the smaller valley behind the hotel, where an ideal micro-climate suited the stonefruit grown there.

Clutha River, Lowburn, before the Clyde dam

The inner floodplain of the Clutha River, naturally braided as it approached Deadman's Point, had been extensively dredged above and below the crossing, and this unique section of the river had become a maze of river channels and swimming-holes, lined with mature willows, sometimes called the 'Hundred Islands'. Not surprisingly, the area had become popular with campers during high summer. Small tracks weaved among the old tailings, arriving at campsites and swimming-holes.

'Hundred Islands' above the Lowburn crossing

Rumours of further hydro-electric development that might inundate more gorges and valleys had circulated since the completion of the Roxburgh dam in 1956, and these rumours surfaced with a vengeance in the 1970's. Uncertainty over the future of the Lowburn area became a topical subject in the Lowburn pub as locals contemplated the possible demise of their community.

In the lead up to the New Zealand elections in 1975, one aspiring candidate was Warren Cooper. When questioned at the Lowburn pub by Shorty Sutherland, a retired gold-miner who lived across the road, Mr Cooper promised not to flood Lowburn and the pub. Mr Cooper said: "If you want water in your whiskey, vote Labour."

Shorty Sutherland, and Pythagoras the cat, Lowburn. 'Someone should have shot him (Muldoon) years ago. Me, I wouldn't waste my ammunition. You can tell him that from me.' He was assured by MP Warren Cooper that Lowburn would not be flooded.

In 1977, Warren Cooper MP, strode onto the recently constructed Clyde dam lookout, beyond which work had begun on the dam that would eventually flood the Cromwell Gorge, part of Cromwell and much of the Lowburn area including five orchards and the Lowburn pub - where he had made his earlier promise not to flood the hotel and the surrounding area. He had come to address a protest group called "Clutha Rescue," who had set up camp at the lookout. Mr Cooper asked: "Why can't you support me over the construction of this dam?"

The building of the dam was opposed by five landowners at Lowburn and two in the Cromwell Gorge. They took their case against the Government to the High Court in Wellington, who ruled in their favour, determining that there was no end user for the power at Clyde and that the applicant had no water right.

But Prime Minister Robert Muldoon rallied his supporters. In the end, legislation was passed with the help of the two Social Credit MP's. The Clutha Development (Clyde Dam) Empowering Act was enacted on the 30th of September 1982. All legal avenues for legitimate objection had been removed.

Lowburn pub sign in the 1980's ~ 'In 198? this hospitable place could be 20 metres beneath the new Lake Dunstan.' This sign of a man having a beer through a snorkel was placed on Lowburn's Welcome Home Hotel in the 1980's. It voiced the stoic despair of a community facing inundation if, and when, the Clyde dam reservoir would be pronounced safe enough to fill.

The Lowburn community had been cast aside, sold down the reservoir, lock stock and beer barrel. Outside the pub, a sign appeared showing a man drinking a beer through a snorkel. In 1988, the bulldozers arrived to demolish the hotel and 'reshape' the valley. The Welcome Home Hotel, the Motor Camp, the houses along the main street, five orchards, the concrete arch bridge across the Clutha, the "hundred islands" with numerous popular campsites and swimming-holes, and some of the best farmland in the region, all disappeared into the pages of a bitter history.

Lowburn area after the Clyde dam

Lost Orchards and Farmland

Cromwell Gorge orchard, Fruitgrower's Road, before the Clyde dam

Before the Clyde dam, the Cromwell Gorge produced some of New Zealand's best fruit. The reservoir behind the Clyde dam flooded a total of 2,300 hectares of productive land, including 12 large orchards on the river terraces along both sides of the Cromwell Gorge, 5 orchards at Lowburn, and fertile farmlands on both sides of the Clutha River in the Lowburn area.

The orchards in the Cromwell Gorge and a few orchards at Lowburn had frost-free micro-climates producing fruit early, earning good prices over the Christmas and New Year period. The Government, however, maintained that profitable late maturing fruit could be grown in the Earnscleugh area with a new irrigation scheme from the Clyde dam. They claimed that late maturing nectarines and peaches could realise $50,000 to $60,000 per hectare per year. Growers were sceptical, and MAF (Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries) publicly said that this was unlikely.

The Clyde dam proceeded in the face of numerous objections, and the much touted irrigation scheme eventually only delivered limited water from the top of the Clyde dam to Earnscleugh, to help maintain flows in the Fraser River. The late nectarines and peaches never realised the projected returns.

Meanwhile, some of the most fertile farmland in Central Otago, bordering the Clutha River at Lowburn, disappeared under the Dunstan reservoir.

Clutha River, Lowburn, before the Clyde dam

Deadman's Point Bridge

Deadman's Point Footbridge (second), 1926, by Albert Percy Godber.

Deadman's Point holds a unique place in the history of the Clutha River, and of the Lowburn / Cromwell area. Here, the full force of the river suddenly converged into a narrow chasm at the beginning of the infamous Cromwell 'Gap'. Here, the first bridge spanned the river, and here countless gold-miners crossed and re-crossed en-route to their diggings, witnessing raging floods, and occasionally death in the vortexing waters of the 'Point'.

The first bridge across the Clutha River was erected at Deadman's Point by Henry Hill and opened in May, 1863. It was a footbridge suitable for packhorses, and it provided the shortest route for gold-miners heading to the strike on the Arrow River, which was then accessed via the Cardrona Valley. Prior to this bridge, gold-miners would continue upriver to Sandy Point, where they could cross on a ferry established by George Hassing and William Ellacott in March, 1863.

"The connection between Cromwell and the country lower down the Clutha River, was a pack-bridge erected over that river by Mr. Henry Hill. Wagons with stores and goods had to unload, and everything was packed across on horses." - Past & Present, and Men of the Times, by Captain William Jackson. Barry.

Hill's bridge, however, was swept away that Spring by a devastating flood that ripped away riverbanks, mining-camps, and buildings along the length of the river, claiming over a hundred lives.

The Second Deadman's Point Bridge In Flood.

The Deadman's Point footbridge was eventually replaced (date unknown) by a well-built structure that survived subsequent floods. Although the footbridge was sited at the narrowest part of the river between Lowburn and Cromwell, the massive new traffic bridge, opened in 1866, was located at the Cromwell Junction directly adjoining Cromwell's main street, in order to facilitate traffic through the town.

The footbridge at Deadman's Point provided convenient foot and horse access to the diggings at Quartz Reef Point and Bendigo well into the 20th century.

Just how Deadman's Point acquired its name is unknown, but as the river at this point converged into a narrow precipitous 'gap' and surged with immense speed down a series of rapids to the Junction at Cromwell, it is likely that it was considered a 'point of no return'.

The reputation of the river was formidable, due in no small part to the perilous experiences of the log-raftsmen on the Upper Clutha. The log-rafting enterprise was started in 1862 by George Hassing and Henry Hill to supply much-needed lumber from the western forests to the virtually treeless interior. The first log-raft to negotiate the river as far as Clyde (Dunstan) arrived on October 6th, 1862.

"It was decided not to try and negotiate the gorge with these craft. They were navigated to a landing-place between Lowburn and Cromwell, but it was frequently a most difficult procedure to catch the landing-place. Once past it, there was absolutely no choice but to allow the raft to shoot through the roaring, rocky gorge above Cromwell. The raftsman had the alternative of either abandoning ship or of taking his chance aboard his craft. One man known as the Boatswain, having been caught in this predicament, took the consequences of remaining at the tiller. His raft, after entering the gorge, turned a complete somersault. He managed to climb aboard again and bring it into an eddy near the Kawarau Junction, where he was secured by a shore man - very wet, but grateful that he had escaped unhurt." - The Wanaka Story, by Irvine Roxburgh.

 

The Cromwell Gap, 1977, by Robin Morrison.

The Deadman's Point footbridge had always provided the most direct access to Bendigo, but only for travellers on foot or horseback. Obviously, the new 1866 traffic bridge at Cromwell provided access for wagons and later motor vehicles, and in 1938 when the new concrete bridge was opened at Lowburn, the old footbridge at the 'Point' was used even less.

By the 1970s the footbridge was gone, and the Clutha River was the focus of evermore speculation over future dams. During the following decades, hydro plans came and went, but almost all of them doomed the productive river flats around Lowburn to inundation. The eventual plan included the destruction of old Cromwell and the construction of new roads, and a new bridge, at Deadman's Point. In a bitter twist of fate, the towering columns of the new bridge rose above the site of the original footbridge, connecting the new Cromwell centre with the east side of the gorge.

The 'New' Deadman's Point Bridge, before the 'Point' was flooded, circa 1990.

Remarkably, Deadman's Point was not physically destroyed during the construction of the bridge. In the future, when the reservoir is decommissioned (it was planned to last 80 years) the 'Point' should be easily revealed when de-silted. By comparison, the distinctive Cromwell Junction, which was almost obliterated by earth-moving machinery prior to the filling of the reservoir, will be difficult to restore.

The 'New' Deadman's Point Bridge, after reservoir filling.

Today, the 'new' Deadman's Point bridge stands high above the flooded 'Point', and few people who drive over it realize the significance of either the name, or the location.