The Tuapeka Mouth Punt which first crossed the Clutha/Mata-au River in 1896 is a rare surviving reaction cable ferry. A reaction cable ferry uses the river current to push the punt (the ferry itself) across the river. Cables guide the punt across the river from jetty to jetty.

Punts and ferries were among the earliest services provided for crossing New Zealand’s wild rivers. Many settlements were built around crossing places. The Clutha River was a particularly formidable barrier and many punts and ferries criss-crossed the fast-flowing current from the 1850s onwards.

In the 1890s, residents successfully petitioned the Tuapeka County Council for a public punt at Tuapeka Mouth. Tenders were called in August 1895, and the contract let to Tyson and Dunlop for £333. The service officially opened on 22 February 1896. Initial rates were 6d for passengers and horses, with a sliding scale for various numbers of sheep, and 3d a head for cattle.

The system chosen at Tuapeka Mouth was a reaction cable ferry. A typical reaction ferry consists of two pontoons with a wooden deck bridging them. They usually have overhead cables suspended from structures anchored on either bank of the river. A ‘traveller’ is installed on the cable and the ferry is attached to the traveller by a bridle cable. The bridle cable is adjusted to angle the pontoons into the current, causing the force of the current to move the ferry across the river. A simple wooden dock on each side of the river provides a docking area for the ferry and ramps to load vehicles and passengers. The side rails are constructed of timber post and rail. To cross the river, the rudder at the forward end of the ferry is lowered which turns the ferry at an angle to the current. The cable prevents the ferry from being pushed downstream, and instead the force of the current propels the ferry across the river.

In 1902 the punt was vested officially in the Tuapeka County Council. The Tuapeka Punt operated as a platform on two boats. Major repairs were made in 1908; around 1915 the boats were enlarged and the decking lengthened. In February 1915 the Waiau River at Tuatapere in Southland was bridged and the punt there became available. It was dismantled and railed to Balclutha and taken by river steamer to Tuapeka Mouth. The new punt had twin iron-hulled boats. The punt in use today is, according to historian A.R. Tyrrell, substantially the craft introduced in 1915.

The Tuapeka Mouth Ferry and Jetty Site is of special significance as the sole remnant of what was once a network of punt sites up and down the Clutha/Mata-au River in Otago and it is now the only punt site still in operation in New Zealand.