The Te Rata Bridge was a suspension bridge across the Retaruke River in the King Country, New Zealand. On 22 March 1994 two transoms (the supporting beams suspended from wire ropes running from side to side beneath the bridge) snapped causing the bridge to collapse while beekeeper Kenneth Richards was crossing in a laden light truck. Richards was killed when the truck fell 30 metres into the river.
The bridge was built on public land [1] in 1986 for Keith and Margaret Berryman, a nearby landowner, by members of the New Zealand Army and a group of Fijian army trainees, as an exercise. The design was based upon calculations by Lieutenant John Armstrong, with labour and logistics for construction provided at New Zealand Army expense.
The Berrymans were to provide all materials, but instead of the specified macrocarpa or tanalised radiata pine timber for the transoms and bearers, they obtained Douglas fir timber from a demolition site in Wanganui. Lieutenant Armstrong's initial reaction was not to proceed with construction using deficient materials, but he was eventually persuaded when Keith Berryman signed a statement, witnessed by a neighbouring JP, taking responsibility for the materials and their subsequent inspection and maintenance. Loading was recalculated accordingly. Untreated Douglas fir timber has featured in the leaky homes saga around New Zealand; it is difficult to treat against decay and untreated timber is suitable for use only where it can be adequately protected from moisture. Te Rata receives about 1800 mm (72 in) of rainfall per year, and the river gorge is continuously damp with frequent fog.
G. W. Butcher, a retired Lieutenant Colonel and civil engineer, who reported on the collapse for the army, concluded that the failure was caused by "50% reduction in the nominal strength of the member ... entirely due to decay of the untreated timber." Additional factors were "the decision to use two 300x75 beams bolted together for the transoms in place of a solid 300x150 member" and the lack of a "regular inspection and maintenance programme [...] by the owners of the bridge". The army withheld Butcher's report from the 1997 inquest into Richards' death and kept its contents secret until it was published illegally on the internet by the Berrymans' lawyer, Rob Moodie. The Berrymans claim that their fight against attempts by the Occupational Safety and Health department to prosecute them for Richards' death has led to bankruptcy and the loss of their farm.
The complete text of the Butcher report is held at Wikisource:Butcher report [ dead link ]. Its author could not previously comment publicly on its implications, but since its illegal distribution the Army has released the report. George Butcher has now spoken publicly and said Keith Berryman admitted to him that the transoms were in poor condition, that there was visible rot in some timbers, and that he was worried about the state of the bridge. Knowledge of an unsafe work environment and failure to prevent or isolate the risk is an offence in New Zealand, but the prosecution of the Berrymans failed when the judge ruled the bridge did not meet the definition of Mr Richards' place of work in the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992. [2]
The Berryman Bridge was the second suspension bridge to be the primary access to Te Rata. The earlier bridge, which collapsed around the 1980s, was a fearsome structure on the same site. In the 'Otago Born and Bred' articles noted below, this first bridge is referred to as the Hayes Bridge. The Hayes bridge, said to be 100 ft above the water, is understood by the Ruslings, still resident in the valley, to have been built by the Tichner brothers, formerly sailors, around 1915–1916. The cables consisted of bunches of 52 strands of No. 8 wire, and endured the whole life of the bridge, a period of at least 66 years. When the bridge finally collapsed under the weight of a mob of sheep, the uprights on the house side gave way, allowing the anchors to fall away. Evan and Bob Hayes, who were moving the sheep, were fortunately not on the bridge when it collapsed, but most of the sheep were either killed from the fall, or drowned in the Retaruke.
The Tangiwai train disaster was a deadly railway accident that occurred at 10:21 p.m. on 24 December 1953, when a railway bridge over the Whangaehu River collapsed beneath an express passenger train at Tangiwai, North Island, New Zealand. The locomotive and the first six carriages derailed into the river, killing 151 people. The subsequent board of inquiry found that the accident was caused by the collapse of the tephra dam holding back nearby Mount Ruapehu's crater lake, creating a rapid mudflow (lahar) in the Whangaehu River, which destroyed one of the bridge piers at Tangiwai only minutes before the train reached the bridge. The volcano itself was not erupting at the time. The disaster remains New Zealand's worst rail accident.
The year 1986 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.
Waiouru is a small town in the Ruapehu District, in New Zealand's Manawatū-Whanganui region. It is located on the south-eastern North Island Volcanic Plateau, 130 km (81 mi) north of Palmerston North and 25 kilometres south-east of Mount Ruapehu. The town had a population of 765 in the 2018 census.
Tokoroa is the fifth-largest town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand and largest settlement in the South Waikato District. Located 30 km southwest of Rotorua and 20 km south of Putāruru, close to the foot of the Mamaku Ranges, it is midway between Taupō and Hamilton on State Highway 1.
The Māori King Movement, called the Kīngitanga in Māori, is a Māori movement that arose among some of the Māori iwi (tribes) of New Zealand in the central North Island in the 1850s, to establish a role similar in status to that of the monarch of the British colonists, as a way of halting the alienation of Māori land. The Māori monarch operates in a non-constitutional capacity with no legal or judicial power within the New Zealand government. Reigning monarchs retain the position of paramount chief of several iwi and wield some power over these, especially within Tainui.
Kakahi ) is a small King Country settlement about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) up the Whanganui River from Taumarunui, New Zealand. Founded as a sawmill town, it takes its name from the Māori word for the New Zealand freshwater mussel.
The Retaruke River is a river in the North Island of New Zealand. It joins with the Whanganui River at Whakahoro just above Wade's Landing and downstream from Taumarunui. The river flows through the farming communities of Upper and then Lower Retaruke Valley. Downstream from this junction is the Mangapurua Landing with its Bridge to Nowhere, servicing the ill-fated Mangapurua Valley farming community.
Miss Alice is a New Zealand lawyer and former police officer and politician. He was mayor of Manawatu from 1995 to 1998 and twice stood unsuccessfully for Parliament under the United Future banner. He is also known for his wearing of kaftans during the 1980s while Police Association secretary, and female attire in the High Court and Court of Appeal in 2006.
HMNZS Canterbury is a multi-role vessel (MRV) of the Royal New Zealand Navy. She was commissioned in June 2007, and is the second ship of the Royal New Zealand Navy to carry the name. She is also New Zealand's first purpose-built strategic sealift ship.
Lieutenant General Sir Frank Horton Berryman, was an Australian Army officer who served as a general during the Second World War. The son of an engine driver, he entered Duntroon in 1913. His class graduated early after the First World War broke out, and he served on the Western Front with the field artillery. After the war, he spent nearly twenty years as a major.
Christianity in New Zealand dates to the arrival of missionaries from the Church Missionary Society who were welcomed onto the beach at Rangihoua Bay in December 1814. It soon became the predominant belief amongst the indigenous people with over half of Māori regularly attending church services within the first 30 years. Christianity remains New Zealand's largest religious group, but no one denomination is dominant and there is no official state church. According to the 2018 census while 37.3% of the population identified as Christian. The largest Christian groups are Anglican, Catholic and Presbyterian. Christian organisations are the leading non-government providers of social services in New Zealand.
The National Army Museum is the museum of the New Zealand Army. It was formerly known as the Queen Elizabeth II Army Memorial Museum. It is located on State Highway One, on the southern side of the small military town of Waiouru. The 1300 square metre museum is fortress-looking in design, complete with a bridge and moat. It took the 2nd Field Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Engineers (RNZE) 276 days to build, and was opened in October 1978.
Hikutaia is a locality on the Hauraki Plains of New Zealand. It lies on State Highway 26, south east of Thames and north of Paeroa. The Hikutaia River runs from the Coromandel Range through the area to join the Waihou River.
The bridges in New Zealand are many and varied but only date back to the beginning of European settlement in the mid 19th century.
Shelly Bay is a bay on the Miramar Peninsula of Wellington, New Zealand.
The Bay of Plenty is a large bight along the northern coast of New Zealand's North Island. It stretches 260 kilometres (160 mi) from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east. Called Te Moana-a-Toi in the Māori language after Toi, an early ancestor, the name 'Bay of Plenty' was bestowed by James Cook in 1769 when he noticed the abundant food supplies at several Māori villages there, in stark contrast to observations he had made earlier in Poverty Bay.
Bruce Bay is a bay and settlement in South Westland, New Zealand on the Tasman Sea. It is located on State Highway 6, 74 kilometres (46 mi) northeast of Haast and 45 kilometres (28 mi) southwest of Fox Glacier. The small settlement of Bruce Bay is located just south of the mouth of Mahitahi River. The bay is a nesting ground for the Fiordland crested penguin, and endemic Hector's dolphins and southern right whales can be observed from the shore on occasion. Some of the bush around the bay has been cleared for farming, and quartz stones can be found on the beach.
A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time. The Mw6.2 earthquake struck the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred 6.7 kilometres (4.2 mi) south-east of the central business district. It caused widespread damage across Christchurch, killing 185 people in New Zealand's fifth-deadliest disaster.
The 2006 New Year Honours in New Zealand were appointments by Elizabeth II in her right as Queen of New Zealand, on the advice of the New Zealand government, to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders, and to celebrate the passing of 2005 and the beginning of 2006. They were announced on 31 December 2005.
The 1978 Queen's Birthday Honours in New Zealand, celebrating the official birthday of Elizabeth II, were appointments made by the Queen in her right as Queen of New Zealand, on the advice of the New Zealand government, to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders. They were announced on 3 June 1978.