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Aerial photo of Otira.1958.
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DescriptionStephen Wright
The photo was taken on 8 January 1958 by V C Browne (a pioneer in New Zealand aerial photography - see V C Browne & Son website). The purpose was to show flood damage in the township after the big floods at the end of 1957.PhotographerV C BrowneDate of Photo1958Map[1] ContributorElizabeth Reid
The photo was taken on 8 January 1958 by V C Browne (a pioneer in New Zealand aerial photography - see V C Browne & Son website). The purpose was to show flood damage in the township after the big floods at the end of 1957.PhotographerV C BrowneDate of Photo1958Map[1] ContributorElizabeth Reid
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Location (city or town)OtiraEventAerial photo of Otira
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Date Created29th October 2021CommentsAlan Sheehan
Pic looks to be not long after the big slip flooded the village in 1957/8
Alan Sheehan
Our old house is 6 on the left,
Vicki Chammen yours is 13 up from the hall on the opposite side.
Lauren Macdonald-Parker
Alan Sheehan , I don’t see any stop banks yet or the house they built for George McKenzie & following Headmasters
Badjah Wilson
What a great photo, never knew Otira was such a big town in its day
Viv Hitchcock
Great photo
Viv Hitchcock
Great photo
Maria Webley
Sabin Holloway this is a cool shot
Judy Cardno
Fantastic photo..
Andrea Summerfield
So many houses!
Dave Curtain
Mum and dad got married in Otira church at Arahura now ( I think)
Jeff Louwman
Wow, did the main road enter Otira Gorge further up in 1958, this photo ?
Jim Wilson
What an amazing photo!
Richard Howe
Wonderful view of a very busy railway township. When you look at the place today, you just can't believe that all those houses were there. A true railway town.
Trevor Keith Scott
Richard Howe Believe me Rich, every one in that village helped every one, if they did not then it was not long before they left........That was if they could be shown the error of their ways,
Ken Jackson
Yes, great photo
Trevor Keith Scott
FANTASTIC, I lived in Otira at 3 different times.
Reply1d
Heather Newby
Author
Admin
Trevor Keith Scott interesting,, tell me more
Trevor Keith Scott
Heather Newby Well Mum and Dad took us there in the mid to late 50's, He was with the carpenters and Mum worked for the refreshment rooms, I and my sister went to Otira School, My mate and I came back to Otira in the 60's working on the track with the railways, we stayed in the SINGLE mens huts. I came back to Otira with my wise in late 60's early 70's. I was 3rd officer in the local fire brigade, in the Search and rescue team, Also the hall Committee and a regular at the pub.
MIcheal Hunt
my dad was there in the fire brigade and an engiine driver then
Niaouli Wolf
We lived there from 1950 until 1961. My Dad Alan Dean had the store. We learned to ski at Temple Basin, later the school children started there too. We would go up for a day once a fortnight great fun.
Karen Scull
My grandparents lived in Otira in the 40"s
Granddad drove the steam trains back in the day
Steven Harris
John Harris,my father,NZR guardsman,lived there during 1960's...he also owed and ran the Otira tearooms/store....
Joan West
I lived there in 1966 when I was married. You were lucky if you got 2 hours of sun in the winter and trying to get clothes dry on the line was near impossible. We had no washing machine or fridge and cooked on a coal range.
Karen Scull
Joan West I remember my grandmother saying the exact same thing
Jennifer Gaskell
Mum and Dad lived there in 1956-57, I remember going to School there, Rained alot, not much sun shine, Dad got a transfer to Timaru, wow what a difference from Otira.
Trevor Keith Scott
Jennifer Gaskell I used to go up Kelly's Range when the TV was on the blink, trace the power cable from the bottom up the slip to the Ariel at the very top looking for breakages or damage to cable. Cut and rejoin the cable, some times caused by rock fall on the slip, I loved Otira and the 3 different times I spent there.
Jennifer Gaskell
Trevor Keith Scott I was only about 7 or 8 years old when we lived there. When we use to travel Christchurch for Holidays, Mum use to get out at Candys Bend and try and shift the rocks so Dad could get past in the car.
Trevor Keith Scott
Jennifer Gaskell They were great days growing up, learnt a lot, specially how to treat others like the way I would like to be treated!!
Richard Howe
Trevor Keith Scott You would be like some of the workers at Cross Creek Trevor. Didn't want to leave at the end. And you remind me of a chap at Granity that used to climb up the hill to check out the water supply when it was on the blink. Sometimes branches or other things would block the intake, but he would attend to it.
Steve Bradley
We lived there between 1964-70
Dad was a engine driver (Peter Bradley)
Michael Nottingham
I believe that's the hall at the extreme bottom of the photo, just partially in view. Went to the movies there with Ernie Power and his Mother many, many years past. It was a Western titled 'One Eyed Jacks' or something like that?
John Canon
My mother and her parents lived in Otira She met my father when he was part of the team running the NZR telephone lines though the tunnel Yes not many houses left there
Donald Levy
what year were the houses built there
Stephen Wright
Donald Levy The railway settlement houses were started in 1922 by Love Bros from Port Chalmers and finished in 1923 in time for the tunnel opening. At the time, there were already a few houses near the station, one dating back to around the turn of the century when the railway reached Otira. One more railway house was built in the early 1950s, becoming the new stationmaster's house in the 1960s. It's the last one on the river side down the hall end. As far as I know it's still there but not lived in, after a fire damaged it in the late 1990s.
Reply4h
Donald Levy
thanks Stephen , I have one of the houses here in Charleston
Stephen Wright
The photo was taken on 8 January 1958 by V C Browne (a pioneer in New Zealand aerial photography - see V C Browne & Son website). The purpose was to show flood damage in the township after the big floods at the end of 1957.
Pera Tee
Wow.. we lived on the right handside around the middle somewhere, few years before the park was built..
Trevor Keith Scott
1st time there 1960, we lived on the river side, 2nd time in the single mens huts in the back shunt 1960, 3rd time there just opposite the railway station, when night train came up bringing coal we used to get on top and throw off LARGE lumps of coal f… See more
Reply19h
Pera Tee
Trevor Keith Scott interesting no surprises if one of them was my father.. funny you say that, I thought as a child coal grew in the ground like mushrooms
Trevor Keith Scott
Pera Tee I am sure you know better now love, coal train came up from Greymouth at night disconnected from wagons and went back taking wagons from Electric Train brought though the tunnel. That was when we snuck out and took the larger lumps of coal off the wagons for our fire, for cooking heating and hot water, they were great days.
Garry Wick
Painted a lot of railway houses there back in the 60s . Stayed at the pub . Great job too .
Trevor Keith Scott
Garry Wick You would use a lot of water paint then Gary, or drank a lot waiting for the rain to stop???
Debbie Hughes
We lived in house 518. Second house in from bottom left 1985 to 1987
Debbie Hughes
What number were you guys, Wayne Ferguson
Nina Townsend
We were the 3rd house river side
Pic looks to be not long after the big slip flooded the village in 1957/8
Alan Sheehan
Our old house is 6 on the left,
Vicki Chammen yours is 13 up from the hall on the opposite side.
Lauren Macdonald-Parker
Alan Sheehan , I don’t see any stop banks yet or the house they built for George McKenzie & following Headmasters
Badjah Wilson
What a great photo, never knew Otira was such a big town in its day
Viv Hitchcock
Great photo
Viv Hitchcock
Great photo
Maria Webley
Sabin Holloway this is a cool shot
Judy Cardno
Fantastic photo..
Andrea Summerfield
So many houses!
Dave Curtain
Mum and dad got married in Otira church at Arahura now ( I think)
Jeff Louwman
Wow, did the main road enter Otira Gorge further up in 1958, this photo ?
Jim Wilson
What an amazing photo!
Richard Howe
Wonderful view of a very busy railway township. When you look at the place today, you just can't believe that all those houses were there. A true railway town.
Trevor Keith Scott
Richard Howe Believe me Rich, every one in that village helped every one, if they did not then it was not long before they left........That was if they could be shown the error of their ways,
Ken Jackson
Yes, great photo
Trevor Keith Scott
FANTASTIC, I lived in Otira at 3 different times.
Reply1d
Heather Newby
Author
Admin
Trevor Keith Scott interesting,, tell me more
Trevor Keith Scott
Heather Newby Well Mum and Dad took us there in the mid to late 50's, He was with the carpenters and Mum worked for the refreshment rooms, I and my sister went to Otira School, My mate and I came back to Otira in the 60's working on the track with the railways, we stayed in the SINGLE mens huts. I came back to Otira with my wise in late 60's early 70's. I was 3rd officer in the local fire brigade, in the Search and rescue team, Also the hall Committee and a regular at the pub.
MIcheal Hunt
my dad was there in the fire brigade and an engiine driver then
Niaouli Wolf
We lived there from 1950 until 1961. My Dad Alan Dean had the store. We learned to ski at Temple Basin, later the school children started there too. We would go up for a day once a fortnight great fun.
Karen Scull
My grandparents lived in Otira in the 40"s
Granddad drove the steam trains back in the day
Steven Harris
John Harris,my father,NZR guardsman,lived there during 1960's...he also owed and ran the Otira tearooms/store....
Joan West
I lived there in 1966 when I was married. You were lucky if you got 2 hours of sun in the winter and trying to get clothes dry on the line was near impossible. We had no washing machine or fridge and cooked on a coal range.
Karen Scull
Joan West I remember my grandmother saying the exact same thing
Jennifer Gaskell
Mum and Dad lived there in 1956-57, I remember going to School there, Rained alot, not much sun shine, Dad got a transfer to Timaru, wow what a difference from Otira.
Trevor Keith Scott
Jennifer Gaskell I used to go up Kelly's Range when the TV was on the blink, trace the power cable from the bottom up the slip to the Ariel at the very top looking for breakages or damage to cable. Cut and rejoin the cable, some times caused by rock fall on the slip, I loved Otira and the 3 different times I spent there.
Jennifer Gaskell
Trevor Keith Scott I was only about 7 or 8 years old when we lived there. When we use to travel Christchurch for Holidays, Mum use to get out at Candys Bend and try and shift the rocks so Dad could get past in the car.
Trevor Keith Scott
Jennifer Gaskell They were great days growing up, learnt a lot, specially how to treat others like the way I would like to be treated!!
Richard Howe
Trevor Keith Scott You would be like some of the workers at Cross Creek Trevor. Didn't want to leave at the end. And you remind me of a chap at Granity that used to climb up the hill to check out the water supply when it was on the blink. Sometimes branches or other things would block the intake, but he would attend to it.
Steve Bradley
We lived there between 1964-70
Dad was a engine driver (Peter Bradley)
Michael Nottingham
I believe that's the hall at the extreme bottom of the photo, just partially in view. Went to the movies there with Ernie Power and his Mother many, many years past. It was a Western titled 'One Eyed Jacks' or something like that?
John Canon
My mother and her parents lived in Otira She met my father when he was part of the team running the NZR telephone lines though the tunnel Yes not many houses left there
Donald Levy
what year were the houses built there
Stephen Wright
Donald Levy The railway settlement houses were started in 1922 by Love Bros from Port Chalmers and finished in 1923 in time for the tunnel opening. At the time, there were already a few houses near the station, one dating back to around the turn of the century when the railway reached Otira. One more railway house was built in the early 1950s, becoming the new stationmaster's house in the 1960s. It's the last one on the river side down the hall end. As far as I know it's still there but not lived in, after a fire damaged it in the late 1990s.
Reply4h
Donald Levy
thanks Stephen , I have one of the houses here in Charleston
Stephen Wright
The photo was taken on 8 January 1958 by V C Browne (a pioneer in New Zealand aerial photography - see V C Browne & Son website). The purpose was to show flood damage in the township after the big floods at the end of 1957.
Pera Tee
Wow.. we lived on the right handside around the middle somewhere, few years before the park was built..
Trevor Keith Scott
1st time there 1960, we lived on the river side, 2nd time in the single mens huts in the back shunt 1960, 3rd time there just opposite the railway station, when night train came up bringing coal we used to get on top and throw off LARGE lumps of coal f… See more
Reply19h
Pera Tee
Trevor Keith Scott interesting no surprises if one of them was my father.. funny you say that, I thought as a child coal grew in the ground like mushrooms
Trevor Keith Scott
Pera Tee I am sure you know better now love, coal train came up from Greymouth at night disconnected from wagons and went back taking wagons from Electric Train brought though the tunnel. That was when we snuck out and took the larger lumps of coal off the wagons for our fire, for cooking heating and hot water, they were great days.
Garry Wick
Painted a lot of railway houses there back in the 60s . Stayed at the pub . Great job too .
Trevor Keith Scott
Garry Wick You would use a lot of water paint then Gary, or drank a lot waiting for the rain to stop???
Debbie Hughes
We lived in house 518. Second house in from bottom left 1985 to 1987
Debbie Hughes
What number were you guys, Wayne Ferguson
Nina Townsend
We were the 3rd house river side
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West Coast New Zealand History (12th May 2022). Aerial photo of Otira.1958.. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 7th Apr 2026 07:52, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/30494