New rope for flagpole

Heritage advocate Graeme Clark on top of the Brydone Monument at Totara, south of Oamaru, after he had just replaced the rope on the flagpole of the structure erected to commemorate the first shipment of frozen meat from New Zealand.

A four-wheel-drive truck with hi-ab bucket from Network Waitaki was used to gain access up Sebastapol Hill to the memorial then to reach 15m to the top of the flagpole to install the new rope.

''There was a small window of opportunity because access is through a paddock which is usually sown in wheat or sunflowers. The harvest had just been done so this was the opportunity to get up there, as the paddock was also very dry,'' Mr Clark, who is also vice-chairman of the North Otago Historic Places Trust, said.

The old flag and rope had become detached from the pole.

The memorial was built in 1907, but the original flagpole rotted and disappeared. It was replaced in 1982 with a new aluminium pole.