Jarreth Colquhoun (inset) died after jumping from the floating crane SS Hikitia on the Wellington waterfront in January 2024. Photo/ Mark Mitchell
Jarreth Colquhoun (inset) died after jumping from the floating crane SS Hikitia on the Wellington waterfront in January 2024. Photo/ Mark Mitchell
Jarreth Colquhoun, 33, died after jumping from the SS Hikitia crane into Wellington Harbour, the equivalent of jumping off a 12-storey building.
Devastated mum Sue Colquhoun wants the historic crane removed to prevent further tragedies.
The Maritime Heritage Trust and Wellington City Council are discussing safety measures, but the trust doesn’t believe moving the crane would change things.
Grieving mum Sue Colquhoun fears it’s only a matter of time until someone else jumps off the historic crane, the SS Hikitia, moored on Wellington’s waterfront.
Last January, her son Jarreth climbed to the top, waved to a crowd below and jumped feet first into the harbour - the equivalentof falling 12 storeys. It’s estimated he was travelling at 98km/h when he hit the water.
A coroner has ruled this week that the height of the crane and the speed with which he fell, combined with the effects of acute methamphetamine use and cold water immersion, meant Colquhoun’s fall was fatal.
She’s now made some recommendations in the hope of preventing similar tragedies.
But his mum says you can’t, and won’t, stop young men from doing foolish things, particularly those like Jarreth who view the Hikitia as a challenge.
Her son had exhibited risky behaviour for years. He was either extremely withdrawn or super hyped up. Twice she’d tried to get a mental health assessment, without success.
But she says to people like her son, the Hikitia was a visible challenge and a temptation, that others are going to try.
That’s why she wants the crane completely removed from the waterfront.
She’s vowed to keep fighting, saying it’s irrelevant if the next fatality is one year or 10 years away: “I was still the one before them who could have made a difference,” she said.
‘My history now is death notices and a headstone’
The 33-year-old’s death coincided with the Manu World Champs at the nearby Taranaki St Dive Platform. Sue’s in no doubt that her son was spurred on by the competition and a desire to prove he could jump further.
She can visualise him on the crane, drawn to the water and waving to the crowds below.
But she’s disappointed by the coroner’s report and feels more could be done between the Maritime Heritage Trust, as the crane’s owners, and the Wellington City Council (WCC), who own the wharves.
She says moving the crane further over the boat to deter others from jumping and the extra security measures proposed in the coroner’s report aren’t enough.
Instead, she wants the crane moved away from the wharf, the waterfront, and anywhere there’s foot traffic.
“They can sink it, for all I care,” she said.
The only tiny piece of satisfaction she took from the coroner’s finding was the council’s commitment to include the Hikitia in its safety plan for the next event.
But even that wouldn’t be necessary if the Hikitia were moved from its current spot, she said.
Jarreth Colquhoun, 33, died after jumping from a crane into Wellington Harbour in January 2024. Photo/ Supplied.
Invited for a tour aboard the Hikitia following Jarreth’s death, she said it did little to sway her views. While aboard, she saw the effort volunteers put in to restoring the vessel but to her, she felt there appeared to be little effort being put in to making it safer.
Any discussions she’d had with the crane’s trustees had come from the angle of “we’re preserving a piece of history,” she said.
“That’s the least thing on my mind, you’ve got that history in your books. My history now is death notices and a headstone, that’s my history with that boat now, and I don’t want to see it.”
Instead, she wants discussion about why more isn’t being done to move the vessel from its current location.
She’d also like to hear from other families who’ve been involved in previous jumping incidents from the crane, including from the family of Jamie Gibbon who died in 2015 and is mentioned in the recent coroner’s report.
Sue wants people to know that Jarreth was a kind, loyal and loving person to everyone. The last six months of his life, during which he was gripped by methamphetamine addiction, did not accurately reflect the good man and kind father that he was.
The trust responds
The trust has expressed its condolences to Jarreth’s family for their terrible loss and says his death had a significant impact on their volunteers.
In a statement, its chairman, Peter McKnight says there are ongoing discussions between the trust and WCC to ensure the Hikitia can remain safely at her existing berth, particularly during waterfront events.
The decision to post security guards on the Hikitia during this year’s Homegrown music festival was an example of the trust’s engagement with the council around event planning and management.
The statement said that when people had died after jumping from the crane, the individuals concerned were found to have boarded the vessel illegally. In each case, the Hikitia’s operation was found to be “at or above industry best practice”.
While it’s always looking to improve safety, it doubted moving the vessel to another berth would change matters. It refers to the coroner’s report, which noted that tower cranes are often the target of illegal climbing activities.
Hikitia: the only steam-powered heavy lift floating crane in the world
The Hikitia was launched in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1926, arriving in Wellington in December of that year. Almost unchanged from the day she was launched, the ship is now the only working example of a steam-powered heavy-lift floating crane in the world. Next year it celebrates its centenary.
Wellington’s harbourmaster Grant Nalder estimates the Hikitia has been berthed in its present spot since the 1990s. He says any decisions about moving the Hikitia are between the trust and the WCC, but warns it’s not as simple as saying, “we’ll move it somewhere else”.
Also, he points out the vessel is no longer self-propelled, something the volunteers are working to fix, so it can once again operate under its own steam.
The SS Hikitia on Wellington's waterfront is the only working example of a steam-powered heavy lift floating crane in the world. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The trust says given the vessel’s significant historical value to global maritime history and engineering, improving public education and outreach about the Hikitia also plays an important part in how the public engages with the vessel.
With its centenary celebrations next year, the trust hopes to continue to inspire New Zealand’s future sailors, engineers, historians, crane operators, and artists through updated and improved outreach programmes on the Hikitia at Taranaki Wharf.
Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.
