No lack of memories about Magnetic Hill
YOU may not find ‘‘Magnetic Hill’’ marked on any map of Dunedin and its surrounds, but Wash readers certainly know where to find it, judging by the huge response to our question yesterday on behalf of Maurice
Boyles.
Much of my afternoon was spent answering telephone calls and clearing messages about this topic, so a big thank you to everyone who responded and apologies if I didn’t get back to you.
Everyone, it seems, knows Magnetic Hill is situated on Mt Cargill Rd, which used to be the main road into Dunedin from Waitati before the Northern Motorway was built and opened on December 14, 1957.
More precisely, the stretch of road dubbed Magnetic Hill so many years ago is near where the old horse watering trough still stands, between the hairpin bends just past the two quarries and, if you are heading north, not that far from the turnoff to Green Rd.
Just how it got its name is unclear but it appears to be related to some mysterious ‘‘pull’’ that made the older cars seemingly accelerate up the hill and slow up when going down.
Reader Iona McGhie, of Brockville, who grew up in Waitati, says while she knew of the hill’s name, she couldn’t vouch for its magnetic powers as ‘‘I have never ridden a bicycle or driven a car in that particular area. Maybe it is just local folklore.’’
But Graeme Pryde, of Fairfield, recalled the name when, as a teenager, his parents had a crib at Waikouaiti which they went to most weekends.
‘‘It seemed quite a distance in those days, especially having to drive over the old Mt Cargill road in a 1934 Chev. Many times on the way home Dad would always bring up about
‘Magnetic Hill’ and said the car seemed to accelerate up there a lot better in top gear. This hill is just past what was known as the ‘Horse Trough’.’’
Robin Christie, of Roxburgh, had a similar tale: ‘‘I can’t say I have ever heard that name [Magnetic Hill]. However, I can clearly remember, travelling from Waikouaiti to Dunedin in my father’s Morris 8 in the 1940s, climbing Mt Cargill out of Waitati, up past the old concrete water trough and round the next bend when my dad always reckoned the car ‘took off’.
‘‘With hindsight I suspect that it was an optical illusion and that bit of hill was not as steep as it looked but it was a very real sensation at the time, especially in an underpowered 3speed 1937model motor car loaded with two tents and camping gear.’’
David Ellison rang to recall how the NZ Railways buses on the Karitane-Dunedin service would always stop at the horse trough so the drivers could refill the radiators with water.
And on the return run, especially in the days of six o’clock closing, the buses would also stop at the trough to allow the passengers, both male and female, to have a ‘‘pee stop’’.
Nick Smith recalled how a number of drivers, including his father, would also stop at the horse trough, to let the car radiator cool — ‘‘but as the water was pure it also complemented a little drop of whisky!’’.
Ali McCarthy threw in a little extra history to the discussion, recalling how there used to be an enamel sign, white on blue, near Magnetic Hill which read ‘‘Steedman’s stylish suits satisfy’’ while a couple of other callers reckoned there was a ‘‘tank trap’’ built on the road in this area during World War 2.
We also had a great response yesterday to others matters raised in The Wash, but we will have to save those answers for another day, when there is more space.