The restored historic barge at the entrance to Scotts Ferry is a rare reminder of the importance ferries played in New Zealand in the days before bridges were common.
Before there were coach services around the 1870s, the main route from Wellington north to Wanganui and beyond was around thecoastline.
And by 1843 a ferry service had been established at Parewanui to take people across the mouth of the Rangitikei River.
In 1850 Thomas Scott took on the duties of ferryman as well as establishing a trading post and accommodation house at Parewanui.
Scott made agreements with local Maori, trading wheat, Indian corn and pigs which meant the popularity of Parewanui increased as more and more Pakeha settlers moved up the coast with their stock to take up their land in the Wanganui region and beyond.
Which meant the nearby port of Rangitikei (at the mouth of the river) became an important conduit for the region's produce.
When the Manawatu and Rangitikei county councils were established they took over the ferry service, continuing to employ Scott as the ferryman.
When Scott died in January 1892 his widow, Charlotte, and her son, took over the service.
Five years later a large flood tore the banks of the river, destroying all bridges in its path and changing the course of the Rangitikei. The port was destroyed and the ferry site washed away.
However, the ferry was eventually restored with government assistance and with the development of alternative forms of transport, including the North Island main trunk railway line (finished 1908), the need to maintain the ferry as a major transport link ended even though there was opposition from local settlers.
Kevin Ellory. Photo / Lin Ferguson
It closed down and the barge was sold to the Featherstone family at Parikino where the new owners used the barge to transfer stock across the Whanganui River.
A maritime museum in the 1970s never eventuated which meant the old barge gradually sank into the mud of the riverbank.
In 1989 the barge was raised and sited near the original Scott's Ferry site.
Members of the local community undertook its restoration as a 1990 sesquicentennial project.
