Press releases
The Armstrong Disappearing Gun at the Otago Peninsula nature reserve was awarded New Zealand’s first Engineering Heritage Award by the UK-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers on Friday 24 January.
The Award was presented to the Armstrong Disappearing Gun in recognition of it being the only complete surviving example of its type remaining in the world. The Award was presented by the Institution’s Oceania Region Chair, Ken Tushingham to Ross Smith, Chairman of the Otago Peninsula Trust at a special ceremony on 24 January. This is only the sixth Engineering Heritage Award to be granted to an artefact outside of the UK.
Ken Tushingham, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Oceania Region Chair, said:
“The Armstrong Disappearing Gun is a wonderfully inventive and impressive example of late 19th Century engineering.
“This award is testament not just to the ingenuity and expertise of the original engineers who designed and made the Gun, but also the huge efforts of local volunteers at the Antique Arms Association and the Otago Peninsula Trust to restore and maintain the Gun in such wonderful condition.”
Ross Smith, Chairman of the Otago Peninsula Trust, said:
“Since the Otago Peninsula Trust was registered in 1967 as New Zealand's first private charitable trust it has had an impressive record of achievement and has either initiated or been involved with many significant projects on the Otago Peninsula; the care and maintenance of the Disappearing Gun being one. Dunedin is indeed fortunate to have this unique, impressive example of engineering excellence and it is gratifying to have it recognised by such an august body as the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.”
The Gun was manufactured by W G Armstrong & Co in 1886, at Elswick, near Newcastle upon Tyne, England and installed at its current site in the Otago Peninsula in 1889. The disappearing Gun was developed during the later part of the 19th Century to give greater protection to the Gun crew especially in the Coast Artillery role. On firing, the Gun carriage enabled the Gun to rotate backwards and down into a protected pit where it could be reloaded out of the view of and line of fire of the enemy. The disappearing Gun used the force of its own recoil to move it down behind the parapet and into its protective pit. The hydro pneumatic system or counterweights were then used to store the energy needed to return the Gun to its firing position. The Gun was only ever fired in practice during its lifetime, and was decommissioned at the end of World War Two.
This will be the 91st Engineering Heritage Award to be presented by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. The awards, established in 1984, aim to promote artefacts, sites or landmarks of significant engineering importance – past and present.