Old concrete race pipe gets top historic protection

A chunk of concrete pipe from the construction of Mid Canterbury's Rangitata diversion race 65 years ago has been listed by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust as a category one historic place.

The diversion race was built in the 1940s to bring much-needed water from the Rangitata River to the Mid Canterbury plains.

It is mostly an open channel but concrete pipes were used in the section near Surrey Hills, where engineers felt the land was too unstable for an open channel and the race was piped underground.

Mid Canterbury Historic Places group president Peter Ireland said camps were set up along the length of the diversion race, and reinforced concrete pipe made on site where needed.

A discarded chunk of pipe at the Methven camp was converted into a storage shed for explosives and it is this structure that has been recognised by the Historic Places Trust.

Mr Ireland said people might think it funny that an old concrete pipe sitting in the middle of a paddock would rate as a category one historic place. "But we believe it represents a very important part of Mid Canterbury's history."

- NZPA