1899: The Ranfurly Bridge

April 16, 2021

By AHNZ

Today in history, 17 April, 1899, Governor Ranfurly of New Zealand made his official landing at Rarotonga, Cook Islands. He had lately been on tour in New Zealand, as we have seen. Now it was the turn of Rarotonga and their Queen to host for a week the man who was their unofficial head of state.

Ranfurly was there to work toward becoming the official head of state for the Cook Islands. Prime Minister Richard Seddon wanted a Pacific Empire and having the Cooks would also help him do what Vogel before him could not (“Vogel and Seddon howling empire from an empty coast..“) in also gaining Samoa. On this April visit, Governor of New Zealand Lord Ranfurly was warming the islanders up to be annexed into our Pacific Empire in the following year. Interestingly, it was quite clear in the official minds that they were standing in the ancestral home of the New Zealand Maoris…

“Furthermore, it is a pleasure to me to visit those islands from which the ancestors of the New Zealand Maoris migrated nearly five centuries ago, and thereby established a record for daring and skill that has hardly been equaled by any feat of navigation recorded in history. The interest I take in the Maori people of Polynesia is natural, for you must remember that I am the Governor of the largest population of Maoris in the world, and therefore I have a natural desire to see for myself what manner of people they were who remained behind when the great migration sailed for New Zealand. “- Ranfurly; Ref. New Zealand Herald; Papers Past 

About 5km around the island (Rarotonga) is the Garden of Seven Stones which I have posted about before. Each stone has one of the founding Maori waka embossed on it. If this story about Maori migration from Rarotonga is authentic it makes perfect sense that New Zealand and the Cooks should be unified once more. A strong argument for Seddon and Ranfurly to make their claim! Almost suspiciously strong, leading one to wonder if the Garden of Seven Stones was built to grease the way for the annexation of 1900. It does not appear Ranfurley visited that Garden or if it yet existed.

The Cooks were already a British Protectorate, and already under New Zealand control. In the above photo of 1900, Ranfurly was back to make this formal by annexation proclamation. The 1899 visit paved the way for that. The Governor established a High Court for the Cooks and helped quell race relations.

His Lordship also christened the first bridge made in the Cook Island group which was named, for him, The Ranfurly Bridge. This spanned Takuvaine Stream and can be seen in top image of this post. This bridge was replaced in the 1920s by the Empire Bridge (aka Empire Theater Bridge.) This bridge is now rather deteriorated and it was recently announced that a 6 month project is about to begin to replace this one too.

The Empire bridge was constructed in the 1920s by the Government of New Zealand, since then, only the bridge deck was replaced by the Ministry of Works in the 1980s.”- Empire bridge replacement to take six months, Cook Islands News (March, 2021)

I’m wondering what the new name for the Ranfurly Bridge or Empire Bridge will be and who will pay for it? The Cook Islands are very cash-strapped since Labour 6.0 used COVID-19 measures to shut down tourism and with it most of their economy.

The Xi Jinping Bridge, the Mao Zedong Bridge? China is offering the Cooks their money and support for infrastructure at a time where the New Zealand Labour 6.0 Government is not. It’s very odd that these New Zealand citizens, the Cook Islanders, are not wanted any more by our State. Not only do Labour 6.0 not help the Cooks but they thwart those who try such as Mike Pero.

“As well as New Zealand, China has supported Rarotonga with infrastructure projects and loans. As the tourism-starved Cooks head towards insolvency, will they be forced to turn to China to bail them out?

China is anywhere and everywhere in the Pacific with the money and the resources to take over the South Pacific Islands.” – Mike Pero: An air bridge to the Cook Islands – why not? Otherwise Rarotonga will become part of China; Newshub (July 2020)

“To commit three to 5 million in deposits and insurance just to have two-to-three aircraft sitting on the tarmac makes no commercial sense…We have been offered some very attractive propositions over the past six months, but I am not prepared to commit to $60 million worth of aircraft and a five-to-10 year lease when there is so much uncertainty.”-Mike Pero’s Pasifika Air is grounded before take-off; Stuff (April 2021)

—

Image ref. Rarotonga’s first bridge and the Government Buildings, Avarua; Rorotonga, Cook Islands; Facebook (2014)

Image ref. Logo for Infrastructure Cook Islands, under what looks suspiciously like a heaven of Communist Stars.

Update 2022: A reply at last to my email to the Cook Islands Museum. As follows..

Rick,
Sorry for late reply; we have been closed due to covid. Thanks for that
interesting information which I’ll pass on to CI News to see if they can do
some digging on the subject.

As far as I know there is no marker there and there has not been at least
during the 58 years I have been alive.
But it’s not to say there was never one there once; it may have been removed
to put in some buildings that used to be nearby, opposite the Empire Cinema
(they were pulled down in the 1990s).

Regards, Jean Mason
Curator

——– Original Message ——–
Subject: Empire Bridge
Date: 2021-04-17 00:07
From: anarchist_history@anarkiwi.co.nz
To: librarymuseum@cookislands.org.ck

Hi there,
Interested in knowing if anything remains to mark the opening of the
Ranfurly Bridege of 17 April 1899.

The Governor Ranfurly christened the bridge on this day and it is usual for
there to be some marked stone to remember the occasion.

Perhaps the new works on the Empire Bridge will turn it up or perhaps you’ve
seen it because it’s out in the open.

Love to see a photo.

Thanks,
Rick,
New Zealand

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