Cardrona resident Martin Curtis, who maintains Cardrona's historic buildings and reserve, and Bob White, of Gisborne, completed the installation on Thursday morning.
"We will be rigging it so the rope runs through the hole in the roof into the building. We are taking the traditionalists' approach.We want to get it right," Mr Curtis said.
The men also installed a new phosphor bronze bell at Hawea Flat School this week.
That bell was manufactured at Austins foundry in Timaru and given its finishing touches by Templeton and Sons at Albert Town, for a total cost of about $1000.
Mr Curtis said he wasn't sure the Hawea Flat School would return the bell and was delighted when principal Sue Heath agreed.
"The old one is a very traditional bell shape, quite rounded. The new one is more modern but sounds lovely. It is exactly one note up the scale from the old one," Mr Curtis said.
The Cardrona School opened during the gold-rush era in 1870 and was, for a time, the largest school in the district.
After it closed in the mid-1950s, the building became the town's hall, the derelict bell tower was removed and the old bell was given to Hawea Flat School, which opened in 1955.
It is believed the old bell originally came from the White Star gold dredge that operated in the valley in the 1890s.
Before the bell could be returned, Mr White, formerly of Riverton, reconstructed a bell tower, using old photographs as a guide. That was installed last year and cost about $4000 to complete.
Both men were looking forward to ringing the bell this weekend at the Cardrona Folk Music Festival, now in its 35th year.
About 100 musicians are expeced to attend.
The Cardrona Community Association, Cardrona Hall board, the Anderson family and the musicians have helped raise funds for various projects at the reserve.
