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By: Hagen Austin 26th Aug 2026 1:43AMJack Oldham is my neighbor he's 99 this Sunday

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Tower construction for the Newman Creek bridge on the Westport - Inangahua line.1939.

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Description Tower construction for the Newman Creek bridge on the Westport - Inangahua line.

Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19390906-44-01PhotographerAuckland Weekly NewsDate of Photo1939-09-06Map^[1]External LinkAUCKLAND LIBRARYContributorHeather Newby

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Location (city or town)InangahuaWestportEvent Tower construction for the Newman Creek bridge on the Westport - Inangahua line.1939.

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Date Created7th December 2025CommentsPete Lusk
I had an old friend, Bobby Closs, a coal miner. He was unemployed in the Depression and put on ‘the gorge’ as he called it.
Work conditions were terrible, he said, ‘all picks, shovels, and wheelbarrows’. No shelter on wet days…and the men had to go across the Buller River in a row boat….even during a flood. That was despite a swingbridge for the bosses.
Jack Oldham, still alive in Westport and in his mid 90s, told me his dad was a carpenter on the gorge bridges.
The dad took his family for a picnic over at the worksite. The rails had been placed by this time, and they could scoot along from opposite Tiroroa Camp to the bridge over the Cascade R which is still there and carrying regular coal trains. The towers look identical to the ones in the photo.
The contractors did have one piece of mechanisation….a little loco made from a small rail wagon and a model T ford motor.

Phil Wright
The War stopped alot of work on these jobs,the Kaikoura tunnels never got finished till after hostilities ceased,due to manpower shortages..

Pete Lusk
They must’ve had a crane for bringing up the buckets of concrete, unless they used a human chain.

Michael Mclauglin
Picks and shovels

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Tower construction for the Newman Creek bridge on the Westport - Inangahua line.1939.

Editing is temporarily disabled