Page 23 - rigneymaster

One Man’s Goldfield: the story of the Horseshoe Bend Diggings, William Rigney and Somebody’s Darling

The Raes Junction, or Island Block, School opened in 1884. It seems to have been
known by both of the above names. The school was a two-room building, one
classroom and a second room which was the lady teacher's flat. The school was
located in an unlikely hollow on the west side of the State Highway, opposite McCuns
Road, between Raes Junction and Island Block. After the school was closed in 1927
the building was loaded onto a trailer and dragged by traction engine to Millers Flat
22
where it continues to be used as a private home.

From 1927 onward children from Horseshoe Bend attended the Millers Flat School, a
five mile walk in either direction but without the need to cross the river.

Crossing the Clutha at the Bend

In 1881 the Tuapeka County Council voted one hundred pounds to give settlers at
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Horseshoe Bend easier, quicker access to Millers Flat. Regardless of this, the
Bend's links with the outside world were mainly by crossing the river.

There are a few references to early river crossings, the earliest reference to the river
being used for travel is when Nathaniel Chalmers' Maori guides took him down the
river from Hawea to near Balclutha on a raft which they had made for that purpose. In
1863 John Patallo operated a hide boat on the river a short distance below Horseshoe
Bend to ferry the Beaumont Station wool clip to the main road. In 1868 William
Rigney ferried the Stewart family across the river to church.

The first permanent river crossing was a wire and cage installed in 1887. For twenty
years before this the river was crossed in some form or another, presumably by
dinghy, on a regular basis. School children were ferried across each morning to begin
their walk to school, and returned in the evening, the mail and supplies also had to be
brought across the river.

The County engineer selected the site for the first cable using sound engineering
principles but a notable lack of what is now referred to as consultation or public
participation. The site chosen was at the upstream end of the small hill behind the
farmhouse at the Bend. The river passes through a deep, narrow gorge at this point,
and the east side of the river is a sheer cliff. From an engineering perspective this site
had the admirable features of a short span, which minimised the sag in the cable, and
high enough above the river to be free from any risk of destruction by floods.

Unfortunately for the County, and the residents of the Bend, this first cableway was
also high enough to scare those who had to use it, presumably not least the school
children. Another concern was that the approach to the cage was very steep, and the
consequences of slipping on wet grass only too obvious. The residents' third concern
was the very practical complaint that the wire had been anchored at different levels on
either side of the river. The difference was over a metre and no doubt made for an
exhilarating ride in one direction and a long hard struggle to pull the cage up the cable
in the other direction.

22 The photograph of the location for this school was incorrect in the 1991 printing of this book.
23 Mount Benger Mail. 16.2.1881

© Jeff Robertson 23