The Last Spike Memorial is a monument in the
Ruapehu District
Ruapehu District is a territorial authority in the centre of New Zealand's North Island.
It has an area of 6,734 square kilometers and the district's population in was .
Features
The district is landlocked, and contains the western half of t ...
of New Zealand. It marks the location where the "last spike" was driven in 1908 for the completion of the
North Island Main Trunk
The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city Wellington with the country's largest city, Auckland. The line is long, built to the New Zealand rail gauge of and se ...
line.
Location
The monument is located about north of the locality named
Pokaka, immediately north of the Manganuioteao Viaduct, and a short distance south of the
Makatote Viaduct.
Description
A concrete obelisk was erected in early 1909.
The monument marks the location where the Prime Minister,
Sir Joseph Ward, conducted a
last spike ceremony on 6 November 1908.
A silver-plated spike was used, though the actual last spike was driven in about to the south, to complete work on the Manganuioteao Viaduct (then called Manganui-o-te-Ao),
where temporary tracks met on 3 August 1908. The monument is four-sided, high and across the base, with black lettering on a white marble slab. It was about to the west of the line,
but moved a further west in 1973. It is marked by road signs on
State Highway 4 and a small carpark.
Recognition
As part of its "Engineering to 1990" project, the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ; now
Engineering New Zealand Te Ao Rangahau
Engineering New Zealand Te Ao Rangahau (ENZ; previously the New Zealand Institution of Engineers – NZIE and then Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand – IPENZ) is a not-for-profit professional body that promotes the integrity a ...
) added the central section of the North Island Main Trunk line to its engineering heritage register.
In 1997, IPENZ put two new brass inscription plates on the monument.
On 10 December 2004, the monument was registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (now
Heritage New Zealand
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...
) as a Category II structure, with the registration number 7575.
See also
*
Golden spike
The golden spike (also known as The Last Spike) is the ceremonial 17.6- karat gold final spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States connecting the Central Pacific Railroad ...
(United States)
*
Last spike (Canadian Pacific Railway)
References
{{Reflist
Monuments and memorials in New Zealand
Obelisks
Heritage New Zealand Category 2 historic places in Manawatū-Whanganui
Ruapehu District
Rail transport in Manawatū-Whanganui
History of transport in New Zealand