A modest stone monument and an explanatory panel at the site of Richard Pearse's family farm at Waitohi, about 16 km west of Temuka. Pearse was a shy South Canterbury farmer who, working alone with junk-metal and using a homemade two-cylinder engine, may have achieved powered flight in early 1903 — months before the Wright Brothers. The evidence is contested, but the local oral testimony is strong enough that aviation historians now treat his claim seriously.
The site itself is rural and quiet, signposted from the main road. There is no museum at the memorial — for the actual replica aircraft and the documented story, visit the Pearse exhibit at the Pleasant Point Railway Museum or the South Canterbury Museum in Timaru. Worth the short detour from Temuka for anyone interested in early aviation.