On 30 May 1870, John Richards applied to the Goldfields Warden in Cromwell to construct and operate a punt to be situated about 1/4 mile upstream from Stuarts Ferry (location #157)

On Feb 1 1871, John Richards ferry is opened for business. It is advertised in the Cromwell Argus as the best punt in the province. The hours of service were 7.am till 10pm with 2 half hour breaks, 6 days per week, and 5 1/2 hours on Sunday. The puntman was Thomas Primate and his wages were £3 per week.

On Oct 5 1872, the Orago Witness reported in the 'news of the week' column. " Accidents on the Bannockburn Punt. The body of a man was found in the Clutha River, on the evening of 25th ult, near Muttontown Gully about three miles below Clyde, and identified as being of the late Thomas Hutton who was drowned by falling from the Bannockburn punt, Kawarau River on the night of the 7th July last. On that night he went onto the punt at around 10 o'clock with the intention of crossing the river. It was said that he was carrying a large lump of coal for his fire. He walked first, the puntman following him with a lantern, and he must consequently have been walking in his own shadow, and could not have seen well where he was going. He struck his foot against the nut of a bolt, and being near to the edge, the next step, in endevouring to recover himself, put him into the river. His widow and family reside at Cromwell. The jury returned a verdict that the deceased was accidentally drowned, and added a rider that the owners of the punt exhibited great carelessness in the management threreof, by not making necessary provision to prevent accidents by placing rails or taking other precaution to prevent persons from falling overboard, and by having lights and buoys etc. This is the second accident of the kind which has occurred at this punt during the last four or five months, a man named Gibbs, whose body has not yet been recovered having walked over the side of the punt in the dark. It would be well if the government would take action in this matter. " The Otago Witness stated that the accidents occurred on the Bannockburn Punt, this promoted a letter to the editor on Oct 22, by James Stuart, the proprietor of the Bannockburn Punt (location #157). He stated in his letter that no accidents had ever occurred on his ferry and that these accidents had actually occurred on Richards punt which was further up the river from his.

A bridge (location #153), located between the two punt sites was constructed by the Kawarau Bridge Company. and authorised to charge tolls. The bridge soon put the punts out of business. John Richards, the proprietor of Richards punt, was one of the partners of the Kawarau Bridge Company.

In September a large flood swept the bridge away. Progress to replace the structure was slow and for a time Richards punt was put back into service.

The bridge was reopened in March of 1879 and the punt service finally came to an end.