Very few people who have driven through the Cardrona Valley during the last quarter century could have missed the collection of bras on a fence near the distillery. The “bra fence” at is is affectionately known has an interesting history, and an unknown beginning.
John Scurr tells the story of spending the night of 31st December 1999 – the turn of the millennium with his wife, Anne, along with John and Mary Lee and four other people, high up on the Pisa Range. They wanted to see the new millennium dawn in, and what better place than high up above Cardrona Valley, looking east over the Maniototo and beyond? By all accounts it was a spectacular sunrise.
One their way back down, the Scurrs noticed “a couple of bras” hanging on a fence along the perimeter of John and Mary Lee’s property, alongside Cardrona Valley Road. “That’s odd” John thought, and thought nothing more of it. That is, until his brother Tim phoned two days later and said “there are four bras on John Lee’s fence.”
Very quickly, two bras turned into ten, and then into a few dozen, and then a hundred … and the Cardrona Bra Fence came became a thing.
In the first year or two, the bra fence went “mysteriously missing” twice. All the bras were taken. John Scurr recounts “We kind of have an idea who took it” [but he doesn’t say who it was] “but when it went missing, John had calls for people in Germany offering ‘bucketloads of bras’ to rebuild the fence, to keep it going.” There was plenty of media interest.
John recalls getting a call from a radio station in London one morning as he was heading into a board meeting. He gave an interview – live on BBC London – about bras, on a fence, in the Cardrona Valley.
John Lee didn’t really need to rely on bras being sent from Germany. Instead, people passing by just added their bras again. It was like a viral social media post, but before social media took hold. People passing by decided to add their bra. And the bra fence just grew and grew.
It wasn’t long before John decided to add chicken wire to stop the bras flapping too much causing a safety hazard.
In time, it was agreed to move it further away from the highway, so that people wouldn’t stop randomly in cars and risk causing an accident on the busy road. A small car parking area was created. At one time, it was thought to be the most photographed tourist attraction in New Zealand. Not confirmed, but let’s just say it sounds “about right”.
John Scurr: “At the same time, we set up an honesty box there for breast cancer.” That honesty box has led to huge contributions being passed on to a breast cancer charity.
In 2019, the last year before Covid-19 and the boarder closures, that little honesty box collected in excess of $150,000 in donations towards helping with breast cancer. Which goes to show that even if one or two people find bras on a fence offensive, it makes for a great talking point, and gets people focussed on helping with the fight against breast cancer.
Importantly, the mystery of the bra fence remains. If you know who put those first two bras on that fence, get in touch with us. We’d love to find out …
Cardrona Heritage Trail 