Built Heritage Inventory Wyley’s Suspension Bridge (Bridge 46) Register Item Number: 366 Building Type: Residential Commercial Industrial Recreation Institutional Agriculture Other Significance: Archaeological Architectural Historic Scientific Technological Location: Bridge over the Whangaehu Heritage NZ Pouhere Taonga Cultural River on Mangamahu Road - List Number: nil alongside its intersection with Thematic Context Kauangaroa Road Early Settlement Residential Physical Description: This single span, steel suspension bridge crosses the Whangaehu River near Mangamahu. Industry Other known names: Wyley’s Bridge, Wylie’s Bridge, Bridge 46 Agricultural Current Use: Bridge: Road Bridge Commerce Former Uses: Road Bridge Transport Heritage Status: District Plan Class: Class C Civic/Admin Architectural Style: Suspension Date of Construction: 1958 Health bridge Education Materials: Steel structure and wire rope Religion Registered owner: Recreation Legal Description: Community Memorials Military Wyley’s Suspension Bridge (Bridge 46) zxy414 Built Heritage Inventory History: Wyley’s Suspension Bridge spans the Whangaehu River on the Mangamahu Road - close to its intersection with Kauangaroa Road. The one- way bridge was officially opened by Lord Cobham, then New Zealand’s Governor-General, on 21 June 1958 with the unveiling of a plaque commemorating the event. At the time, construction was not quite complete – with rolled steel anchor rods from Australia having been delayed for seven months by industrial problems. Thus on the big day, Lord Cobham declared the bridge both officially opened and temporarily closed!1 The official opening of this bridge was especially significant to the Mangamahu community. A grand ball had been held the previous night in the woolshed at Okirae Station, complete with 30 truckloads of greenery used for decoration - and also the Governor-General. On the big day, the Wanganui Garrison Band also contributed to the ceremony’s carnival atmosphere.2 The bridge was the result of six years of negotiation and labour. It was designed by County Engineer, Mr A.C. Ives3, and built by Manawatu firm Messrs Lind & Anderson, of Shannon, at a cost of nearly £26,000. The Wanganui and Rangitikei County Councils, whose districts the bridge linked, each contributed one-fifth of the total cost, while the Government contributed the balance. The book The Road to Mangamahu (pp. 29-30) states that: “Several sites were considered but the final one, three miles up from the Kauangaroa turn off, was chosen (as) the Wyley family had kept records of river levels. The bridge was (therefore) built six feet higher than the highest known flood level.” The new route to Mangamahu created by the bridge eliminated “three miles (of road that) had been a nightmare for years, with river bluffs, slips and undermined sections.” Thus it provided upper valley residents with a safer and more reliable access – the new route running “straight through Kauangaroa (Rangitikei County) then (recrossing) the Whangaehu to Wanganui County.” The bridge was described as serving approximately 150 farmers and residents of 1 M.H. Campion, P.M. Garland, J.D. Morris, The Road to Mangamahu: a history of the Whangaehu River Valley from Reid’s Hill to Mt. View (Wanganui Chronicle, Wanganui, 1988), pp. 29-30 2 Rex H. Voelkerling & Kevin L. Stewart, From Sand to Papa: a history of the Wanganui County (Wanganui County Council, 1986), pp 249-250 3 Mr Ives’ employer (probably from one of the two county councils or the Public Works Department) was not traced during this study. Wyley’s Suspension Bridge (Bridge 46) zxy414 Built Heritage Inventory Mangamahu, as well as benefiting sixteen settlers and their families and seventeen married couples in the Rangitikei County.4 In her 1993 thesis Late Quaternary Lahars from Mount Ruapehu in the Whangaehu River Valley, North Island, New Zealand, Katherine Anne Hodgson states that there are seven major bridging points in the Catchment of the Whangaehu River. These are Tangiwai (road and rail), Tirorangi Marae (road), Colliers Junction (road), Mangamahu (road), Wyley’s Bridge (road), Karangaroa (road) and Whangaehu (road and rail).5 Hodgson states that the historic record of lahars in New Zealand extends back only to the mid-1800s, with the first recorded lahar being in February 1861. However, since that time numerous eye-witness accounts of strange ‘flood’ events (lahars) in the Whangaehu River have been reported – the most well- known and tragic of these having been the Tangiwai rail disaster on 24 December 1953, when 151 people were killed.6 Since 1954, as a result on the Tangiwai disaster, the Whangaehu River has been closely monitored, with Wyley’s Bridge being an important gauging point for measuring the discharges of lahars. In February 1861, Henry Sarjeant, the early owner of what became the Wyley property, described a lahar as it passed the future site of Wyley’s Bridge. He had been on the riverbank when suddenly a huge wave of water and tumbling logs appeared, filling the whole trough of the stream. The torrent was also mixed with what proved to be frozen snow. Next a bridge passed by, followed by about a dozen canoes. This is thought to have been a much larger lahar than the 1953 event – the Wyley’s Bridge site being some 194 km from Mount Ruapehu.7 The Wanganui Herald of 22 December 1904 (p.7) contains an article entitled ‘Through the District’ about a visit to the Mangamahu area. This includes a description of the ‘Riverly’ property taken up “about 40 years ago” when the area was just wilderness, which Sarjeant had then developed into a “beautiful farm”. 4 Campion, Garland & Morris, pp. 29-30 5 Katherine Anne Hodgson, Late Quaternary Lahars from Mount Ruapehu in the Whangaehu River Valley, North Island, New Zealand, (Thesis, Massey University, 1993), p. 10 6 Hodgson, p. 187 7 Hodgson, pp. 188-9 Wyley’s Suspension Bridge (Bridge 46) zxy414 Built Heritage Inventory The property had about a year earlier (c1903) been sold to Mr A. Wilkie, who in turn had leased it to Messrs Wyley Bros. – thereby putting in place the bridge’s future name.8 The Wanganui Chronicle of 16 January 1899 (p.2) reported on the monthly meeting of the Upper Wangaehu Road Board. This included a report that the Board had ordered timber to repair a “bridge over the stream at Mr Sarjeant’s ‘Riverly’ property.” How this relates to the future Wyley Bridge site has not been researched. The following is a verse from the folk-song Thompson’s Bus, by John Archer (1984) who was remembering his early childhood living at the Mangamahu Hotel. Archer was surprised that it became one of his most requested songs when performing at concerts in Wisconsin.9 “See the kids down in the river They're all swimming in the buff! We'll join them if the road gives way On this old papa bluff When they build that bridge at Wylie's It'll save a lot of fuss And we can drive by Okirae In Tommy Thompson's bus.” John Archer was aged 12 and living in Mangamahu when the Tangiwai lahar rushed by carrying the results of the 1953 tragedy. His father was actively involved in the retrieval of bodies, and forty bodies were stored in their shed. In 1987, Archer wrote the folksong ‘Pillows of the Dead’ in memory of what he witnessed – relating to the many dozens of pillows from the train (some of which proved to be bodies) that were washed down the river along with everything else. The song and Archer’s memories of the event are found on the NZ Folksong webpage http://folksong.org.nz/pillows/index.html and his recollection of the event includes the following reference to local bridges and crossing points five years before Wyley’s Bridge was built: “…A few days later a methodical search 8 ‘Through the District’, Wanganui Herald, 22 December 1907, p.7. The article misspells ‘Riverly’ as ‘Riverlea’ 9 NZ Folksong website: http://folksong.org.nz/thompbus/ Wyley’s Suspension Bridge (Bridge 46) zxy414 Built Heritage Inventory was organised, with teams working their way along both sides of the river, from bridge to bridge. A couple of days beforehand my dad asked me to paint some signs identifying all our bridges for the outsiders who came to help in the search. ‘The white bridge, Cox's cage, McDonald's bridge, Mangamahu bridge, Rush Flat cage, Garland's bridge, Harris's bridge, Bakers bridge, Aranui bridge, Polson's top place.’” Whereas there were once a number of suspension bridges in this vicinity, in the light of no others being apparent during this study, it seems unlikely that many - or any - of the others still exist. It is also not apparent from information researched, that any other means of access (such as one of the cages mentioned above) was at this site prior to the construction of this bridge. In July 2001, the bridge was briefly closed to heavy vehicles (those with a gross laden weight of more than 3500kgs and a maximum height of more than 2.40 metres) to allow for major structural repairs to be undertaken on the bridge.10 In June 2010, a maximum speed limit of 15km/h was placed on the bridge11 The bridge’s limitations were also highlighted in 2006, when the Ngaturi Bridge in the Mangamahu Valley collapsed. Equipment needed to work on the Ngaturi Bridge’s removal and replacement, could not approach the site from the Mangamahu side due to the limitations of Wyley’s Bridge.12 Funding was allocated for the design and construction of a replacement bridge at this site in the 2011-12 and 2012-13 financial years in the Wanganui District Council’s 10-Year Plan: 2009-2019.13 The bridge also features in the New Zealand Transport Agency’s National Land Transport Programme, 2009-2012, with a view to replacing it.14 10 Wanganui District Council: Community Link, 23 June 2001: http://www.wanganui.govt.nz/news/commsLink/issue3.asp 11 Wanganui District Council: Notification of Weight and Speed Limits on Bridges.