(Photo courtesy of Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve website)
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Historic settlers cairn relocated
August 10th, 2014
The Settlers Memorial cairn which sat on the hilltop above the Kaiteriteri Road for 80 years has been moved to flat land beside the road.
Photos on the Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve website show the moving operation last Monday and the final location.
The cairn was erected in 1934 at Pah Point, Puketawai to mark Wakefield's landing in the area to investigate sites for European settlement in the Nelson region, and to record the coming of Riwaka's European pioneers.
The road at the time went up the hill and beside the cairn, at the end of the straight road section past the turnoff from SH60.
Local iwi, which already had a large and active presence in the area, have been involved in the relocation of the cairn and have plans to enhance the development of the site for educational, ecological and cultural purpose.
Puketawai is now to be returned to local iwi as part of their Waitangi Treaty Settlement. Historians have noted a strong presence of Maori artefacts and signs of occupation along the coast from Kaiteriteri to Wiwaka.
Relocating the large cairn was a technically challenging project. Its internal construction was unknown, there are power lines overhead, and its weight was estimated as 31.5 ton.
Engineer Keith Knapp and the staff of Abel Tasman Sea Shuttles completed the relocation project along with the assistance of Cottons trucks and Thelins crane. There is now just a bit of cleaning up and landscaping work to be done.
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