MURCHISON SHAKEN TO BITS 50 YEARS AGO

Press, 16 June 1979, Page 15

MURCHISON SHAKEN TO BITS 50 YEARS AGO

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BARRY SIMPSON

At 10.20 a.rn. the noise began. It was a mendous, terrifying noise, like continuous rolls of thunder or the noise of hundreds of iron-clad dray wheels rumbling across the uneven surface of a wooden bridge. Everything began to move, to wriggle, then with increasing intensity to shake and sway. Church bells began to toll of their own accord. The road rose and fell in an undulating, rippling motion, like a ribbon disturbed by a breeze. Chimneys crashed and the crackling of disintegrating glass accompanied the screams of terrified residents rushing into the street from their heaving homes and places of business.

It was Monday, .June 17, 1929, a foggy, cold day in Murchison. Twelve would die that day or soon after from injuries received in an earthquake that desolated many parts of the Murchison area. Although Murchison suffered most, many other towns and cities, notably Nelson and Westport, were seriously affected by it. There was also damage to areas of Christchurch by the major tremor, measured at 7.6 on the Richter scale. Sharp jolts shook many other areas throughout New Zealand. Old residents still speak of rumblings in the hills up to a fortnight before, the major ’quake. The noise was put down to blasting in the hills. Even that morning, further rumblings, accompanied by a number of small tremors, did not awaken any fears in the district’s inhabitants. On the western bank of the Matakitaki river, Sam Busch had just left home to do some ploughing. When he heard the noise he looked up to see the hill behind his farm erupt.

A gigantic slice of hillside descended on his home, burying his wife, son and daughter under 80 to 100 ft of rock and spoil. It also ■ buiied 300 acres of his farm. Backed by hundreds of thousands of tons of rubble, the slip streamed 800 yards down the hillside towards the farm of Mr Charles Morel and his wife Jessie. They ran before it, trying to keep their feet in a surging tide of slurry, farm implements and animals. Once they fell over. Mr Morel was struck by an implement and was cut seriously, Mrs. Morel was saved by a neighbour, and although Mr Morel was

pulled from the debris, he bled to death. Westport and Murchison were isolated. The telephone line, a tenuous link between Murchison and the outside world, was broken in many places. They were to remain isolated until Post and Telegraph line staff overcame slips, incessant rain and continuing tremors over several days, to reconnect Murchison with Nelson. Bridges rose in the air, then fell into creeks and rivers as approaches subsided. Murchison was cut off, not only by telephone, but by road. With their homes in ruins, Murchison district residents made for the township. Here it was decided to set up a transit camp for the now homeless people as an interim measure before evacuating them to Nelson. Great anxiety was felt for those in surrounding areas, particularly in the Buller Gorge, Lyell and the Maruia Valley. Search parties'were organised and despatched.

They returned with the horrifying news of further deaths. In the Maruia Valley, one of the worst-hit areas, a gigantic rock was thrown 150yds from the hillside on to the home of the Gibson family. Mrs Gibson, her son and a schoolteacher, Miss Ferguson, were inside. House and occupants were obliterated. At Arika, the top of a hillside was shorn off by the ’quake and dropped onto the home of Mr and Mrs Walter Holman. Mrs Holman and her young son were inside and were killed. Mr Leo Westbrook also lost his life — he was caught by a slip as he returned to a paddock

to pick up his jacket. Settlers from the stricken areas streamed into Murchison. Many had endured extreme hardship clambering over rocks, through rivers and around precipices to walk out. They were looked after at the transit camp and later in the week taken out by lorry to Kohatu where they boarded a train and were taken to Nelson. About 700 were looked after in Nelson. Epi-centre of the ’quake appeared to be at White’s Creek where the area was thrust up 15ft, effectively blocking the road. It was known that a fault line extended through this area. It was also known that the well-defined Richmond Hills fault-line which passed along the east of Nelson city, extended about 60 miles south to at least Tophouse. From the damage wrought, this estimate of the length of the fault-line was later re-assessed. The Matakitaki river,

dammed by the huge slip which destroyed the Busch farm, backed up for six miles and became a lake. Flood water and explosives later released the dammed waters. The Maruia river changed its course and at one place began eating into shingle and soft sandstone. Over the years the river undercut the soft riverbed and formed what today are the quite spectacular Maruia Falls. The isolated areas around Murchison suffered most, without any doubt. However, the effects of the earthquake were widespread. Some buildings in Nelson, notably the very beautiful main building at Nelson College, were so badly hit that they had to be demolished. The tower at the college crashed through three floors to the earth, through dormito’-'os --4 classrooms. Only two boys were injured, o,ie o. i. a suffering a dislocated hip and a fractured thigh. In Golden Bay, a huge fall of rock crached down on the powerhouse in which Mr A. D. Stubbs, third engineer at the Golden Bay content works at Tarakohe, was working. He was killed. There were serious injuries to two people at Westport, and a workman from Lyell, a Mr Welch, subsequently died of his injuries at Reefton. To the population of New Zealand, the significance of the millions of words written about the earthquake were not sheeted home for at least a week until photographers were able to get into the more inaccessible, areas and publish their dramatic pictures. Some of the best of these are reproduced on this page, 50 years after one of New Zealand’s worst disasters.