Historic Significance

Historical Significance or Value River Ferries crossed the Rangitikei river from 1843. The importance of this one, which served the strategically important coastal route north of Wellington, grew after Thomas Scott took it over in 1849 and ran it in conjunction with his other business activities. After he died in 1892, the Scott family continued to conduct the service. The ferry carried mail, passengers, soldiers and freight until Easter 1897 when a flood swept down the Rangitikei River, totally destroying the ferry site and the Port of Rangitikei. The ferry was reinstated in approximately the same position and operated until it was sold in 1908. The ferry then served on the Whanganui River where it sank in 1975. The craft was salvaged in 1990, restored and put on public display at the site of Scott's Ferry as a very rare example of a 19th century river ferry.

Detail Of Assessed Criteria

a) The extent to which th eplace reflects important or representative aspects of New Zealand history. River ferries were once numerous; they were of critical importance to transport and communications until communities could afford to build permanent bridges. Their history has been documented poorly in all but Otago / Southland, where the Tuapeka Mouth twin-pontoon ferry still operates and where a monograph on the ferries was published in 1995. Scott's Ferry did not trade for as long as the Tuapeka Mouth craft but its many years of service there and on the Whanganui River were nevertheless significant. The preservation of the ferry itself is very rare and makes this combination of land, water and vessel exceptional. The life of Thomas Scott, the principal operator, has been well recorded in secondary literature and features in both the 1940 and the 1990 national dictionaries of biography. b) The association of the place with events, persons, or ideas of importance in New Zealand history. Events: The ferry supported the settlement of its immediate district, but more importantly, served as a link in the strategically important coastal route north from Wellington, which was the principal link until the introduction of a coach service in the 1870s and the railway at a later date. The ferry carried mail, passesngers, soldiers and freight until Easter 1897 when a 'storm of gigantic proportions' generated a flood which swept down the Rangitikei River to totally destroy the ferry site and the Port of Rangitikei. The ferry was reinstated in approximately the same position and operated until sold in 1908. After that date the ferry served on the Whanganui River where it sank in 1975. The craft was salvaged in 1990, restored and put on display at the site of Scott's Ferry. Persons:The ferry is associated with Thomas Scott (1816-1892) the ferryman. A former militiaman, Scott ran the ferry in conjunction with an accommodation house situated on the north bank of the river. Like many such people, he also carried out other activities, serving also as a trader, postmaster and contract mail-carrier and ship pilot. 'A man of strong physique and courage [who] distinguished himself by carrying despatches on foot between Wellington and Taranaki', according to the entry in the 1940 Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Scott was also convicted of assault and sly grogging. Charlotte, his second wife, took over the ferry in 1892. The family operated it under local authority contract until 1907 when the subsidy was withdrawn. Neither the accommodation house nor the store survive, making the ferry site and barge the only potential tangile memorial to the Scott family.

Crawley, 1995

Judith Crawley, Submission to Historic Places Trust regarding Scott's Ferry, January 1995. See NZHPT 12023 073

Scholefield, 1940

G. H. Scholefield, A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington, 1940