Diamond Hill

Local knowledge, dissipates with time, which is a good reason for telling some of these stories.

Diamond Hill is a lower hill near the front of Herbert Forest and a public road (Breakneck)climbed to gain access to Glencoe Run, Mount Misery and The Red Hut.

The area had been a coal mine - lignite of poor quality, but it did have a market in the early days. Consequently there were something like twenty mine shafts, all registered with the mines department. I have a story about one on Rodman's Road - someone may have to remind me about that. There is a leading ridge which comes to an area now planted in Larch, and it was on this boundary that Mick Hill and Gordon Taylor cut manuka firewood. They used an old W12 tractor on steel, spiked wheels to pull it out.

When I arrived the old miners' hut was still there, and I'm not too sure what happened to it, but it was taken away - perhaps by Mick who wanted a hunting hut over on Shepherd's Creek.

Breakneck Road was named after an accident where oxen were pushed to their deaths by logs they were toting.

There were a couple of open shafts visible and some coal remnants - oh yes I tried to burn some, but it was slow and it stunk! Very interesting rock formation, but buried now under a second crop of Radiata Pine.

A policeman named Gideon Anderson owned the 300 acre piece of land that we called 'Diamond Hill'. He was an absentee land owner and while NZFS wanted to purchase the land, he held out for years. The rest of the forest was planted around it.

By the time he decided to sell the land, it was covered in old man gorse and was going to be a problem prepare the land for planting.

When I arrived on the scene, Mick, with his D6 and Bert Moir, with Dorothy the International grader, were making wide firebreaks in anticipation of the controlled burn that was to take place. It was going to be a tricky one!

Old Russell was back by this time, but he did not want to be in charge of the burn because of the stress it would have on him, so it fell to me. I wrote up a plan, that I never stuck to, but it all went like clockwork because I used the topography and burnt downhill to slow the fire down. Bert and I were a good tean lighting the fire, and the troops were on standby in case of any breakout. None occurred.

There is valuable Podocarpus mixed forest to the south, and somehow a spark landed in the top of a big, old Rimu tree. Smoke wafted from it and the danger it posed forced me to climb down into the gully with a chainsaw and fell the tree, then put out the fire. It was difficult to extinguish it too!

Poor old Russell was not too happy when a survey crew arrived from Tapanui to establish the roadline that is now Diamond Hill Road. The flagged it with white linen strips, so we could follow the line with the D6 dozer. Russell was used to having nobody telling him where to put a road, or anything else, so he ignored the line and went his own way, supervising Mick on the D6.

He took ill again and Mick went on leave, so Russell told me to drive the D6 and go as far as I could before anyone came up from Tapanui. 'You can go above their line, or below their line,' he said before going into hospital, 'but whatever you do, don't go on their bloody line!'

Actually theirs' was a very good line, but I did as Russell wanted - he never did come back.

Once access had been provided and the gorse started to regrow, people from all over wanted to put in a trial to test the best way to control gorse. District Office and chemical companies.

Combinations of chemicals were used 245T and Tordon being the main ones and I learned a lot about spraying, aircraft, helicopters and burning. Also about pilots and chemical reps!

You learn quickly when you are actually 'at the coal face'. And if you expect people to plant trees in gorse, you make it as easy as possible for them - nor among burnt sticks or dead prickles!

The last operation should not be a burn because fire stimulates gorse regrowth! And in drought prone North Otago there are only a few days in a year that are suitable and safe at the same time to burn. The Easterly winds are high in humidity, so the fire does not go so well. Westerly winds are very low in humidity, but strong and unreliable. I remember Keith Prior our District Ranger, complaining to me that we were too late with the burn for planting - but I told him, it was not ready, but he was welcome to take control. He didn't and the burn happened in September, much to the chagrin of the nurseryman. The burn was brilliant and subsequent tree establishment successful. The planting of the whole area was over a three year period.