1918: The Otira Tunnel Was Already There

August 18, 2023

By AHNZ

The Otira Tunnel Project started inauspicously in 1908 with Prime Minister Joseph Ward igniting the first charge on a cold and very wet day. Officials kept their speeches brief and soon retreated. State history records that the first break-through was also at the hands of a politician: Minister of Public Works Sir William Fraser on 21 August, 1918. However, this is not true.

Hundreds of official people gathered on that day, along with Ward and Fraser, to celebrate and punch through the last rock wall separating Canterbury from Westland. 20 Years of tough work in the cold, dark, and wet was about to pay off and the tunnelers responsible were to step aside for the Ministerial party to have the gelignite and the honor.

Being a government project, Otira tunnel cost more (over twice the contract price) and took longer (5 years became 15) than was promised. For all that, it was a great New Zealand achievement and a great human achievement. The towering land barrier of the Southern Alps which once we had to accomodate with aid from horsepower, risk management, warm clothing, and extra time, had been moved out of the way. Man was to be the measure of all things and man would have a straight line through the hard rock to his destination. Excellent feat of ego vs. very hard rock that only very few other tunnels in the world could rival for some time to come; Mostly in Switzerland.

The workers either side in the 2 unjoined tunnel segments could hear each other working. It was known that on 21 August the final break-through would occur. History writers frequently comment about how clever the engineeirs were for being able to line the two segments up to meet and that they were only inches apart. That doesn’t seem clever to me at all, that’s just high school trigonometry (or primary school math to earlier generations who were better educated than us.) What’s slightly more clever is that the remaining distance separating the tunnel segments was calculated so accurately that a political and social occasion could be planned around it. Nobody mentions this.

As the excitement grew these workers (very likely to include the men above) could not resist sneeking into their tunnel without permission. Some of them blew down the last dividing wall on their own initiative. The two gangs from either side, Canterbury and Westland, met and celebrated!

When the engineering bosses found out about the tunnel party they were “righteously indignant.” The Bosses made them rebuild the wall so that the Minister could blow it down again the next day!

“Drillers at the face of the Otira Tunnel 1918, these are the men that should of been in the break through photo.” – Christopher Morresey, West Coast Recollect, Facebook (2014)

“Peter Westwood They most likely were there but as always the accolades go to White collar guys,workers really count after the event, nothing’s changed.” – ibid

“Whilte I was in Otira, a census was taken…quite a number of these single men were working at the tunnel under assumed names. They did not want even their mates to know the true facts,..” – p89, Bathgate (1972)

“Excitement rose as the two gangs could hear one another at work, so it was arranged that the Minister and various officials would be invited to fire the last charge which was to break through the mountains between Canterbury and Westland. But this wasn’t good enough for the Kiwi workmen, so some of them went back into the tunnel and blew down the last dividing wall themselves. The two gangs joined in quite a celebration until the local engineers smelt a rat and went in to find the men having a little party. They were righteously indignant and stayed at the face until the men had rebuilt the last dividing wall which the Minister solemnly blew down the next day.” – p96, Bathgate (1972)

This is a secondary source, via the Otira doctor’s autobiography, reporting on what his people told him. There’s no other source I know to prove that the official date is not the real one and that the real break-through occured on 20 August. Those who knew would not be allowed to say at the time because it would injure the Offical State Story. Besides, many of those involved were probably immigrant workers as tends to be the case in New Zealand projects despite our great national pride in achieveing them! Some were also in hiding from the law or otherwise and had come to Otira with fake names to work and hide from another life. They didn’t want to blow their cover but they did want to blow that last wall. Over 50 years later the doctor could write the story in his book.

Just the sort of history I like. It’s disruptive to the State’s story about history by telling the truth about what really happened.

—
Ref. 1923: Farewell to Otira Coaches

Ref. Doctor in the Sticks, David Bathgate (1972)

Image ref. Source unknown; Drillers at the face of the Otira Tunnel 1918. West Coast Recollect

Note: “I too have heard the story of the workmen breaking through the night before the official opening and, as the real expert Bruce Shalders, says below unfortunately it can not be substantiated but lets believe it was the case! More info on the picture from Bruce also below. Cheers.” – Chris Stewart, co-author of Through the Alps – The Otira Railway Tunnel (2023.) Correspondence with AHNZ (2023)

Note: “I have seen the story of the tunnellers breaking through but chose not to include it in the book as it cannot be substantiated. I like to be able to document anything that I write. The top photo of the two is reversed. Jack Manson was the PWD ‘s tunnel supervisor. The other guy, who appears in both photos, is T A Johnston the assistant engineer.” – Bruce Shalders, co-author. ibid

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