The bridge was designed by Harry Higginson. The bridge was completed in late 1880, and formed a key access route to the Central Otago goldfields. It was replaced by a new highway bridge on State Highway 6 in 1963. It is classified by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust as a Category I historic place.
The Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge is a bridge which runs over the Kawarau River in the Otago region in the South Island of New Zealand. The bridge is mainly used for commercial purposes by the AJ Hackett Bungy Company for the purposes of bungy jumping; the site was the world's first commercial bungy jumping site