SPECIAL Commerative Events
This is a look at some postcards that have taken my attention which I have tried to research to find the full story of. I hope that this is of interest and others may add to the information.

Rotorua Edwin A Bainbridge Monument postcard

Quote:

Born 1866. Killed at Te Wairoa Hotel during Volcanic Eruption of Mount Tarawera. Edwin Bainbridge "This is the most awful moment of my life. I cannot tell when I may be called upon to meet my God. I am thankful that I find His strength sufficient for me. We are under heavy falls of Volcanoe." Written by Edwin Bainbridge of Newcastle on Tyne, England.

Photos I have taken of the same monument

HEADSTONE of EDWIN A. BRAINBRIDGE

Quote:

HEADSTONE of EDWIN A. BRAINBRIDGE READS; In Memory of EDWIN A BAINBRIDGE Born MAY 5th 1866 Killed at the Te Wairoa Hotel on the morning of Thursday June 10th 1886 during the Volcanic Eruptions of Mount Tarawera Other side: The night of horror Thursday June 10th 1886 Violent showers of volcanic stones and ash were expelled crushing the hotel (And continues with a description of the scene endured).

=========================================================

D.Sutherland, discoverer of the Falls

Interesting postcard as it holds the claim "Sutherland Falls" Milford Sound, NZ 1904 feet - the highest waterfall in the world discovered by D Sutherland, 1888.

We all know that this is not the highest today - just shows how much of of our world hadn't been searched at that stage - 1888.

SUTHERLAND FALLS

Quote:

Sutherland Fall About 15 miles from the head of Milford Sound, and fed from the glaciers beyond the Arthur Valley. It is seen issuing between the mountains, each over 6,000 feet high, and it descends with an awful roar, in three leaps over a precipice of 1,904 feet. Discovered in 1888, and named after its discoverer, the Sutherland Fall ranks fourth amongst the great waterfalls of the world. The others are the Yosemite in California, which falls, 2,548 feet in three great plunges; the Roraima in Guiana, which falls 2,000 feet in two plunges; and the Grand Falls in Labrador, also 2,000 feet. It should be remembered, however, that the height of the Yosemite is made up of the Upper Fall of 1,502 feet, the Lower Fall of 487 feet, and the rapids between them about half a mile long, having a fall of 559 feet in that distance

Sutherland Falls

Quote:

Sutherland Falls, among the world's highest, comprise three spectacular leaps totalling 1,904 ft, and are fed by a small cirque lake, named Lake Quill. The lake occupies a small rock basin that was formed by ice-action during the Ice Age, and spills almost directly over the lip and down a near-vertical mountain-wall into a valley carved by ice. The falls owe part of their impressiveness to the leaping action of the water from the two main ledges on the mountain wall. They are named after Donald Sutherland who, with J. McKay and J. Malcolm, settled at Milford Sound between 1887–80. Sutherland, who discovered the falls, explored much of the surrounding country in search of a new route to Lake Wakatipu

Sutherland Falls

Quote:

Sutherland Falls, located on the South Island off the famous Milford Track at 580 metres (1,904 feet) is listed as the highest waterfall in New Zealand This has recently been hotly disputed, with an unofficial listing for Browne Falls at 619 metres (2031 feet).

Quote:

History Maori people arrived here from the Pacific Islands around 1000 years ago. They travelled to Milford overland via the same route as the Milford Track now follows, to gain access to the bowenite at Anita Bay. The Maori name for Milford Sound is "Piopiotahi" meaning "Place of the singing Thrush", a bird which is now extinct. On 11 March 1770 Lieutenant James Cook sailed the Endeavour close to a large open bay in the southwest corner of New Zealand. He wrote: "The face of the country bears a very rugged aspect being full of high craggy hills, on the summits of which are several patches of snow." Joseph Banks the botanist was keen to land and take specimens but a strong wind and heavy squalls forced Cook to keep well out to sea. In 1792 New Zealand's first sealing gang was left in Dusky Sound and the slaughter of southern fur seals began. Although regulations were introduced in 1805 that forbade sealing in the south, they were largely ignored and by the 1820's the seals were all but exterminated. One of the early sealers was John Grono. Grono was born in 1763 at Newport, Pembrokeshire, just a few kilometres north of Milford Haven and a number of the sealer's names for the sounds can be traced to him. It was Grono who named Milford Sound after Milford Haven in Wales, and both the Welsh and New Zealand Milford Havens have a number of names in common - Pembroke, St. Ann's Head and in each case a Cleddau River enters its head. However, the first European to settle in Milford Sound was Donald Sutherland. Donald Sutherland sailed alone into Milford Sound on 1 December 1877. After exploring he crossed to Freshwater Basin where he noted that a little shelf of land would make a likely site for a hut. He returned two weeks later and began building his hut - three rooms, a thatched roof and a large chimney. Later after two more huts had been added, Sutherland referred to his settlement as the "City of Milford". Sutherland invited John Mackay (an experienced prospector) to join him in Milford. While searching for gold on 10 November 1880, they both caught their first view of a waterfall cascading down a sheer face of rock in three giant leaps. In naming it the Sutherland Falls, Sutherland estimated that it was "between 3,000 to 4,000 feet high." In 1882, Sutherland was visited by Samuel Moreton, an Invercargill artist and W.P. Hart, a well-known photographer. He took both visitors to see the falls. Hart wrote: "So wonderstricken were we both that the whole time we were there (two days) I do not think that twenty words passed between us." Hart's photographs and Moreton's paintings publicised the waterfall and Sutherland's isolation was soon interrupted by cruise ships with tourists keen to see the Sutherland falls. Milford Track In 1888 C.W. Adams, Chief Surveyor of Otago commissioned Sutherland to cut a track from Milford to the Sutherland Falls. The track, which became the Milford half of the famous Milford Track was completed by Sutherland and his three assistants in six months. At the same time, Quintin Mackinnon was commissioned to cut a track up the Clinton Valley from the head of Lake Te Anau. Reaching the head of the valley he crossed the "Mackinnon Pass" on 16 October 1888 and then picked up Sutherland's track. Mackinnon hurried on to Milford where he wrote: "found good available track from Te Anau to connect with Sutherland's track at Beech Hut." On 7 August 1890 Sutherland married Mrs Elizabeth Samuel (three times widowed) and six months later had assigned by deed the "City of Milford" and five acres of land where "she intends to build an accommodation house." By 1891, a twelve roomed house had been built and for nearly 30 years trampers received a warm welcome from the Sutherlands.

Quote:

The Road to Milford On 27 January 1889, W.H. Homer and George Barber discovered the Homer Saddle. Homer began pushing for a tunnel through the saddle which he estimated would cost 2,100 pounds to build. It was not until 1929 that work began on the road using a government scheme to absorb unemployed labour during the depression. In July 1935 work on the tunnel began and many difficulties were encountered. The rock under the mountain had extensive fractures which fed around 8,000 gallons of water per hour from the permanent snow fields above into the tunnel. The tunnel runs on a downward grade of one in ten and was dug from the higher end, so there was no outlet at the bottom of the tunnel. The water had to be pumped back up to the top of the tunnel and if the pumps failed, the tunnel would start to fill with water. The tunnel mouth was right in an avalanche area and much time was spent digging away snow which buried the opening. Three men died during the construction - killed in two separate avalanches at the tunnel entrance. A barrel extension was built at the entrance to give protection to cars from avalanches. This was swept away in 1945 by another avalanche and was never rebuilt. By 1942 the tunnel was wide enough for a car to drive through but work was stopped during the second world war. In 1953 the enlargement of the tunnel was completed and the tunnel was officially opened to private cars. The total cost of construction was over one million pounds