Introduction

Introduction The West Coast - Te Tai o Poutini - holds taonga and a spiritual connection for the first peoples of (treasure): pounamu, gold and coal and it was these Aotearoa, New Zealand. Routes the Maori followed to valuable resources that brought the first settlers to the find and fetch pounamu were later pointed out to pakeha Coast. For those who were prepared to face the long and (strangers to the land) and made easier for travellers via dangerous journey there were opportunities to find the tracks and roads. treasures, make fortunes or at least earn good wages and thousands were prepared to take those risks. Maori made minimal physical impact on the land, so there is little evidence of their occupation. Sites of great Visitors to the West Coast need some imagination, but for archaeological importance do exist, but are not open to those who take the time to look there are many fascinating the public. However it is worth keeping in mind as you places to discover - and to wonder at the drive and energy travel around that there were few parts of the region they of those who lived and worked here. did not explore at some time. Today there is little trace of these adventurers. In the rush While New Zealand was colonised in the early 1800s, the to find wealth, towns and villages sprang up and flourished West Coast remained untouched by all but some hardy for a short time, then declined and often vanished as the sealers. Mountains were formidable barriers from the miners moved on to richer fields. The bush grew quickly, east and those explorers who made it here from the north covering settlements, mine entrances and machinery. after long and horrific journeys reported that there was Soon all that remained in many places were remnants of little flat land for settlement, the climate was adverse and buildings and lonely graveyards, testament to those who the sandflies and bush rats that abounded here made life lived and died here. almost intolerable. West Coasters are rightly proud of their past and the Just a few were convinced that the dense vegetation and legacies left for the present day. Many have memories boulder-strewn riverbeds could conceal gold. Still, it took to share and tales to tell. This booklet aims to tell you two Maori pounamu seekers to make the gold strike in some of these, as well as guide you to places where their 1864 that sparked off a rush the following year, brought footprints can be traced. diggers in their thousands and led to the development of other industries including coal mining and timber milling. History Bruce Bay - South Westland Signs of occupation dating back nearly a thousand years are well recorded in oral and archaeological records of the local Maori for this was an important place: Te Wahi Pounamu, the sacred place of Pounamu, also known as nephrite jade or greenstone. This tough but beautiful stone provided their best tools, weapons and ornaments 1 Pounamu Gold Beautiful, durable and able The source of gold is in quartz reefs formed by hydro to be honed razor sharp, thermal processes far below the earths surface. Over pounamu was the greatest millions of years, erosion by glaciers and rivers has ground resource Maori possessed down the quartz reefs, freeing it as alluvial or water-borne for jewellery, tools and gold. Some has reached the sea, to be deposited back on weapons. the land as fine beach gold. Subsequent earth movement has uplifted many deposits on river and beach, creating While the name pounamu Peter Hughson - Pendant auriferous terraces. was applied mostly to Kahurangi Jade nephrite jade, it could also Image courtesy Left Bank Art Gallery The first gold sighted wasalluvial , small grains and describe other green stones, nuggets found in the gravel of river beds where, being particularly bowenite and serpentine. Te Tai o Poutini heavier than the surrounding rock and gravel, they had was the main source of this taonga (or treasure), formed sunk to the bottom. Later they were found on terraces, in outcrops along the alps and washed down several rivers, cemented in the gravels of former riverbeds or the sands principally the Arahura, Taramakau and Kaimata. An of ancient sea beaches that had been raised hundreds of important source was far south of Jackson Bay, from where metres. It is even found on the present sea beaches. artefacts survive today. Some could be worked on a small scale with shovel and Maori travelled by land and sea to the region for at least sluice box or cradle, but sparser, deeper deposits required seven centuries in search of the treasured stone, forming companies investing capital in high-pressure sluices, the first human trails across the mountains. Many legends suction elevators and gold dredges. revolved around the formation of pounamu and there are heroic stories about the deeds involved in obtaining it and Finally there was reef gold, still trapped within the rocks battles fought maintaining the rights to the resource. where it was originally formed, usually in veins or reefs of quartz. Mining it involved workings from the ground The Arahura, one of the rivers excluded from the West surface to depths hundreds of metres below. Recovery Coast sale in 1860, has recently passed into the private of the quartz and extraction of the gold required heavy Mawhera Incorporation. Other sources are now legally machinery and chemical processing – again an industry owned by Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu and managed by requiring investment and employing labour. Poutini runanga Ngati Waewae and Makaawhio. Recreational gold panning using hand methods only is permitted at Pounamu stories are told on panels in the Arahura Valley Stoney/Britannia Streams, Lyell, Slab Hut Creek (near Reefton), Moonlight, Nelson Creek, Goldsborough, Jones Creek (Ross) and Franz and in several visitor centres. Traditional artefacts can Josef. be seen in the Hokitika and Karamea Musems and the Haast Visitor centre, while the outstanding national Lessons in gold panning available at: Mitchell’s Gully (near Charleston), contemporary collection of artwork is on display at The Buller Swing bridge, Bearded Miner’s (Reefton), Shantytown and Greymouth’s Left Bank Art Gallery. the Ross Visitor Centre. Coal Timber Coal began millions of years ago as vegetation submerged Beginning as a supply industry for gold and coal mining, in deep swamps and marshes. As the earth’s surface timber milling soon became a major export industry with alternately rose and sank, these deposits became large volumes handled by the river ports. compressed into coal. Sandwiched between layers of sandstone and clays, seams can extend for kilometres Completion of a rail link to Canterbury via the Otira underground. tunnel in 1923 brought a further surge, with sawmills established all along the Midland line. West Coast coal was first recorded about 12km up the Grey River by Thomas Brunner, and mining started there The first loggers used bullocks or horses to haul logs in 1864, the same year as the gold rushes began. from the forest, but steam winches soon replaced them in large operations. Steam locos (or ‘lokeys’ to the locals) The main coalfields are on the flanks of the Paparoa Range soon hauled logs to, and sawn timber from, the mills via north of Greymouth, in the hills around Reefton and on numerous small tramways through the ever-thinning bush. the Buller plateau, a wild and beautiful landscape east of Westport. Considering the scale of this first phase of the timber industry, little remains to be seen apart from areas of Coal has been important to the West Coast economy for cut-over and regenerating forest, some tramway routes, more than a century and mining is currently undergoing preserved locos, sawmill sites, and a restored sawmill can a resurgence. As the global demand for energy increases, be visited via an operating steam train at Shantytown. coal is in demand , creating unprecedented production levels from West Coast mines. Much of the coal produced From the 1960s a move towards sustainable management on the Coast is exported for steel manufacturing, practices for the native forests began, particularly in although it is also used by industry in the South Island. South Westland, and exotic forests in the Central West The high demand has also led to major investments in Coast expanded to provide a long term wood supply on mining innovation, the shovel and coal tubs now replaced which modern sawmills, timber processing and plywood by excavators and huge trucks. manufacturing could be based. From the 1980s pressures for native forest preservation mounted, leading to the end of large scale logging of these forests in 2002. The industry is now largely based on exotic plantations, with many of the processing plants of the 1960s still in use. Goldmining ‘Ghost-town’ -Waiuta 3 Follow the Trail Karamea Seddonville to Waimangaroa Karamea began as a government sponsored “special settle Chasm Creek Walkway: ment” in 1874 and is now an isolated and beautiful A surviving section of the Seddonville branch railway farming area. Famous for its Nikau palm grove and also features a tunnel, a bridge and river views. 30 minute ancient Karst (limestone) formations and Honeycomb return walk. A return night visit is recommended to view Caves it was also explored for gold. the glow worms in the tunnel. Charming Creek Walkway: Follows a railway line up a spectacular gorge to an Places of Interest abandoned coal mine, sawmill sites and numerous relics. There is access from Ngakawau and beyond Seddonville. The Karamea Museum 3 hours each way. Displays cover Maori history, farming, gold mining, sawmilling, flaxmilling, shipping and the earthquake of 1929 that ruined the port and brought more challenges to this isolated community.

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