Waiau Mouth & Bluecliffs Beach History - road and beach scenes from the past

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Central & Western Murihiku Southland Archive

Waiau Mouth & Bluecliffs Beach History - road and beach scenes from the past. Once upon a time, the road from the Waiau Mouth went right along the Bluecliffs Beach... And yes, that sounds like something out of a fairytale these days! These old photos were taken by David Erskine, of Westwood Farm, grandson of the district's earliest European settler West of the Waiau, Hugh Erskine. His land was situated along the Waiau River and the coast. His descendants have purchased more adjoining land in the years since. These photos and many others were recently donated to our Community Archive to share memories and views of times past. IMAGES: Photo 1 - a car travelling along the old Bluecliffs Beach Road, looking towards the settlement at Waiau Mouth. Several old lagoons along the South Coast can be seen. (Note, this road no longer exists and the ocean now runs along the cliff face which is also eroding away seriously. Photo 2 - a tractor and trailer on beach access roadway. Photo 3 - a car on the beach access roadway. Photo 4 - a car and large crowd on Bluecliffs Beach. The Bluecliffs Beach, or just Bluecliffs to the locals, has not only got a reputation as a recreational playground, it also has a rich food gathering history and has been of great importance to our local district for centuries past. Generations of southerners have fished and gathered seafood from here, including long before European settlement. According to locals and regular visitors alike, there used to be picnic spots, tables, bathing beaches, (even changing sheds we were told), and it was a popular place for families and friends to gather in times past. There were also various lagoons formed by the changing flow and outlets of the Waiau River over time, where water would be trapped. Some of these lagoons can be seen between the coast and cliffs in the photo above. However, this coast no longer looks anything like this. HISTORY OF COASTAL EROSION: This coast is wild and windswept, being exposed to southern storms, with the land along the Bluecliffs Beach, eroding away for some time now. Some of the more notable losses are from the time of the terrible flooding of Southland in 1984, when there was mass erosion of the beach and loss of sand, which prevented access to some of the beach. Then further erosion in later floods of 1987 resulted in loss of sand substrate from the east end of Bluecliffs Beach. But in reality, the beach has been eroding over time for centuries, this is discussed more in the history of the River Mouth, below. Devastatingly, in June of 2008 the Bluecliffs section of the Papatotara Coast Road had large sections washed out to sea after storms and king tides. This took out the access to the region's hugely popular walking track, at the Hump Ridge, but a new road was pushed through, being "1km of native bush, 1.5km of scrub and using an existing 2.8km of [existing] track... to Rarakau," so that the 7000 odd visitors and tourists per year could get to both the South Coast Track and the Hump Ridge Track start from. This kind of coastal erosion is unfortunately a common occurrence around the rapidly changing coastlines of Aotearoa NZ and here is no exception. Many locals believe the Hydro Power Scheme at Lake Manapōuri is to blame as it has restricted the flow of the Waiau River which exits along the coast near Bluecliffs Beach and they are vocal in their opinions. Yet other regions of the country without any power stations affecting river flows along the coast are also seeing rapid erosion, beach access disappearing and loss of wildlife. There is no doubt however, at least anecdotally, that beach erosion has gotten worse since the hydro scheme opened. But on doing research for this project, it was quickly clear that erosion and flooding problems everywhere across the country seem to have been worsening for some time, although this knowledge helps no-one. It is certainly difficult to categorically claim a single cause. Some just as firmly believe that Climate Change is to blame for the wild weather, coastal erosion and the loss of wildlife and our biodiversity. Whatever the cause, it is especially important that we save the history of this place, as the whole coastline has changed so much now, that historical photos like these, are vital to record a full pictorial history of the changes. TOURISM On the flip side as they say, Southlandnz.com has this to say about Bluecliffs, which makes it all sound rather idyllic, which it sure can be. But then they are aiming at the tourist market! "Bluecliffs Beach (Rarakau) is a long coastal stretch at the western end of the massive Te Waewae Bay, near the mouth of the Waiau River. This sandy beach is mostly undeveloped and there are endless opportunities for swimming, surfing, beachcombing and hiking in wild, windswept surroundings. The bay is also a marine reserve. The bay is designated a marine mammal sanctuary, so sightings of dolphins and whales are plentiful, and it is also the staring point for the South Coast and Hump Ridge Tracks. You're bound to get caught up in the beauty and solitude of this beach, so be aware of the tide - as it can come right up to the cliffs!" HISTORY OF THE WAIAU RIVER MOUTH: The Waiau Mouth or just "The Mouth" as it is often referred to by locals, is changeable and often moves. Along from the mouth itself land has been eroding away for a long time, as the gravel bar builds up and moves the mouth around. Recently, both in late 2023 and again in early 2024, there was a large loss of land at the Waiau River Mouth, affecting the settlement there. It is of no comfort to those affected by it that this appears to be an old issue, according to the below and other recorded history of the changing river mouth, long before human intervention. James McKerrow early explorer of the district in 1862, has this to say, "The beach for several miles on both sides of the Waiau is covered with a deep bed of shingle which has evidently been bought down by the river to the sea and thrown back on the beach. The long narrow fresh water lagoons, enclosed between these shingle deposits and the original coastline show that the Waiau in its never-ceasing conflict with the ocean has had to shift its mouth many miles backwards and forwards along the coast." Local Murihiku Southland historian Lloyd Esler also writes in 'About the South's on 26 May 2023 that, "The Waiau river mouth is changeable, sometimes isolating a long lagoon and other times flowing through the lagoon to discharge four kilometres to the east or three to the west. In either case the river lacks the broad estuary that defines the three other major river mouths in Southland – the Oreti River at New River Estuary, Aparima River at Jacob’s River Estuary and the Mataura River at Fortrose. The steepness of the beach at the river mouth, the changeable nature of the mouth and the low bar leave fishermen vulnerable to unexpected waves. One tradition holds that in the 1820s a party of Māori were struck by a large wave, possibly a tsunami, which drowned several. Ironically, following the reduction in the volume of the river after diversion of most of the water to Doubtful Sound, flooding increased at the mouth. The McCrackens experienced more floods and eventually sold their low-lying land to be converted to wildlife habitat. Lacking the force to punch new channels through the gravel bar at the river mouth, the water instead ponded, formed lagoons, and raised the water table on the low-lying land just upstream from the mouth." Lloyd continues the above account in his latest regional history book 'West to the Waiau', with the words, "Predictable? Possibly. Unwelcome? Certainly. In 2023 the bar breached opposite the roadend where 18 houses sit on a terrace. Wave action has chewed away at the road and exposed the underlying strata of consolidated sand topped with several metres of course river pebbles." We will also be entering more of the past and earlier history as well as current accounts of the issues of land loss at the Waiau Mouth over the next while, into these community archives, as part of our Waiau River project. If you can help provide information or especially a photographic record of any of this, or personal experiences, then please contact us. Hopefully this entry will be added to as more information comes to hand. If you or anyone you know has any more information or photos to share or accounts of the Waiau River Mouth or Bluecliffs Beach and road as above, please do share this with us in the comments section. You can do this by making a comment in the space provided under the image page. Or you can make contact with us as per the archive front page.