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 ), Moonlight, Nelson Creek, Goldsborough, Jones Creek (Ross) and Franz and in several visitor centres. Traditional artefacts can Josef. be seen in the Hokitika and 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 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’ - 3 Follow the Trail Karamea to 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.

The Fenian Track The track leads to gold workings and a replica hut at Adams Flat.

Charming Creek Wagon Ngakawau: Terminus for the Stockton aerial ropeway which transports the coal in buckets down from the operational mine on the Stockton Plateau to be loaded onto rail for export through the Port of Westport and the Port Adams Flat Hut of Lyttelton on the east coast. A public viewing area is available. Stockton: Solid Energy’s open-cast mine is not accessible to the general public, but guided tours are available – ask at the Westport i-SITE Visitor Centre. : A small museum, formerly a State Coal Mines building, stands next to some historic coke ovens. Millerton: A hilltop mining town, it has mine sites, rope road forma- tions, the shell of a bathhouse and a dam wall. Part of an inclined rail system that took coal down to Granity can be visited via a short track from the Millerton Road. 30 minutes return walk.

Britannia Battery and Berdan The Britannia Gold Mine: North of Waimangaroa a bush track leads to quartz mine workings and a complete 5-head stamp battery. Recrea- Guided Tour of Solid Energy’s Stockton Mine tional gold panning in the creek. 3 hour return walk. 5 Denniston Haunting, isolated but with magnificent views from a 600m altitude on fine days, the Denniston Plateau offers much to explore and wonder at. They include the major engineering feat of the Denniston Incline, which was the artery of the coalfield and community. It also adds genuine atmosphere for readers of the “Denniston Rose” novels.

Places of Interest Museum:Friends of the Hill, who look after much of the township, operate a small museum, open in summer and holidays.

The Denniston Incline: Used to transport coal to the flats far below, the incline formation is visible from the brakehead where wagons and remnants of coal handling facilities remain.

Banbury Arch: The stone structure that gave access to the first mine can be viewed a short distance from the brakehead. 40 minute walk return.

Coalbrookdale Walkway: From Burnetts Face former town site, a walk up the formation of a coal transport rope road leads to mines and a brick fanhouse. 2 hours return walk.

Denniston Bridle Track: A walk down to the flats near Waimangaroa also gives access to the incline. 5 hours 40 minutes return walk.

Conns Creek Yards: A railway shunting area at the foot of the Denniston Incline with ‘Q’ wagons and crane. Aerial Tower - Denniston Westport and Surrounds The Coast’s oldest town and the shipping point for coal to world-wide markets, Westport has buildings from colonial and art deco periods.

Coaltown Museum is the essential starting place for exploring the Buller coalfields. Take time to watch the video which contains vintage footage of the Denniston Incline at work.

Cape Foulwind Walkway: Railway, quarry and lighthouse remains. An astrolabe replica along the cliff top track to Tauranga Bay Seal Colony commemorates Dutch navigator Abel Tasman. 3 hour return walk.

Buller Gorge information as well as in photographs. It also displays on the 1929 has a walkway linking a Maori travellers used the earthquake. cemetery, alluvial gold Buller River as a highway workings and a 10-head and helped early European Six Mile Murchison Power stamp battery. 1 hour 30 explorers and gold miners Station: Up the Matakitaki minutes return walk. to negotiate the rapids. Valley is a small disused It has been the scene of hydro power station and Inangahua Junction earthquakes and floods as the water race that supplied Earthquake Centre: well as being the temporary it. Recalls the 1968 home of transient workers quake and other in gold mining times. Buller Swingbridge: aspects of local Crosses to alluvial gold history. Kawatiri Walkway: workings and information Based upon a section of panels. Guided walks and old railway with station opportunities to pan for platform, bridge and gold. tunnel. 30 minute return walk. Lyell: Marked by a camping area, car park Murchison: The museum and view point, Lyell is Denniston Incline ‘Q’ Wagon has a lot of goldfield now a ghost town revived Coaltown Museum - Westport 7 The Coast Road A spectacular scenic drive, the coast road takes you through countryside that was once dedicated to extracting gold and where the beaches were the main highway. Now only traces of the towns, businesses and mines remain.

Places of Interest

Addisons Flat: A gold town now commemorated by its cemetery.

Mitchells Gully Gold Mine: An authentic operation with tunnels and a water-powered battery crushing Fox River Bridge gold-bearing cement, characteristic of the Charleston field. Gold Panning.

Charleston: Once a town serving 6,000 people, Charleston has walks encompassing deep alluvial gold workings, a water race and the town’s tiny goldfield harbour. There are pioneer cemeteries, Catholic and Protestant, at opposite ends of the town.

Fox River Bridge: A disused timber truss bridge leads to a former road tunnel and a cave that has sheltered travellers for centuries. Runanga Miners’ Hall Runanga: A display along the main street Strongman Memorial – at Nine Mile, the memorial depicts the history of the current (Spring Creek) commemorates the 19 miners who lost their lives in the and former mines that employ the local town’s 1967 coalmine disaster. workforce. A restored Miners’ Hall, emblazoned with union slogans, also graces the town that vies Little Earth: The Grey Valley gold mining town of with Blackball for the title of Home of the New Waiuta, in miniature - at ‘On Yer Bike’, south of Zealand Labour Party. Rununga. Reefton and Surrounds As the name suggests, Reefton was the centre of quartz reef mining which is revitalised today by the largest gold mining operation currently on the West Coast at Globe Hill. Known as the Town of Light, Reefton was also the first town in the Southern Hemisphere to install electric street lighting. Coal, another resource found in the Reefton area, powered the steam engines used in deep mining . The Visitor Centre has a working mine engine and realistic underground ‘mine’. There is also visitor information on these:

Town Walk: displays and artifacts giving Encompasses buildings a real insight into the past. from the town’s earliest days, including the Battery: 1872 Courthouse and Behind the museum, a Oddfellows’ Hall. small working stamper battery evokes memories Reefton School of Mines: of the big machines that Originally set up to teach clattered at Crushington, miners and surveyors, just along the highway. the School of Mines has a significant minerals collection and fascinating Big River Poppet Head assay room.

Bearded Miners’ Co: Gold panning, plenty of yarns maybe some billy tea and girdle scones if your timing’s right.

Blacks Point Museum: Once a church for devout Methodist miners, the museum has fascinating Bearded Miners’ Forge Historic Courthouse - Reefton 9 Kirwans Reward: A tramping track to a mountain-top Reefton and Surrounds gold mine, descending via an aerial route to a 15-head Reefton Powerhouse Walk: Foundations and some battery. 2 - 3 days tramping track. machinery remain at the source of New Zealand’s first public electricity supply. 40 minutes return walk. Big River: A remarkably intact quartz mine accessible by tramping tracks and 4WD road. Coal mines that supplied Murray Creek Tracks: These give access to the famous the quartz mine can be visited via a tramway. The sawmill Energetic, Inglewood and Ajax reef mines, as well as the that served the quartz mine is complete with its “Robey Bolitho Brothers’ gold cement mine and battery. 2 hour or underslung” steam engine. Tramping tracks, 4WD access full day tramp. to site. Big River to Inangahua 6 - 7 hours one way. Waiuta to Big River 3 hours 30 minutes one way. Various other Lankey Creek Track: Part of the Murray Creek walks on site. system, it passes coal mines and inclines. 4 hours walk from Lankey Creek to Blacks Point. Alborns Track: Encompasses relics of a small family coal mining operation that ran on effort and ‘Kiwi ingenuity’ Golden Lead Walk: Follows the Progress mining off the Big River road. 1.5 hours return walk. company’s water race and ends at the Golden Lead company’s 10-head battery. 3 hours return tramp. Blackwater: On the road to Waiuta, the town’s old school contains displays on local mining history. Larrys Creek Track: A small steam engine stands near some open shafts. A stamp battery can be seen across the Waiuta: A now deserted gold mining town. Impressive (often unfordable) creek. 1.5 hours return tramp. foundations and other relics mark the sites that made up the Blackwater Mine, the greatest complex on the Inangahua quartz field. A concrete slab caps New Zealand’s deepest mine shaft, the Prohibition, 879m deep and 300m below sea level. A reproduction of the town can be seen at ‘Little Earth’ south of Runanga. Walking track, various walks. 1.5 - 2.5 hours.

Big River Sawmill Grey River Valley Named after Governor George Grey, the river marked the boundary between Nelson and Canterbury provinces - a source of discontent for miners who had to purchase two licences in order to prospect for gold. Thomas Brunner discovered coal with the help of Poutini Ngai Tahu - the local Maori, in 1848 and the Grey Coalfield soon became important to the economic development of the area. Mining began in 1864, the same year as the first gold rushes and many mines were opened up along the valley and further north into the Paparoa Mountain Range. Moana: Historic Rail precinct with a station, overhead footbridge and station master’s residence. A popular stopping point on the Trans Alpine train route.

Nelson Creek: Unusual footbridge to walks among tunnels, tail races and gold workings.

Notown: A cemetery is the last trace of an enigmatic gold town although the kauri church which they ordered in kitset form from Auckland Nelson Creek Swingbridge now stands at Shantytown. Croesus Track: Crosses Paparoa Range passing gold workings, miners’ huts and battery. 1 or 2 day tramp. Tranz Alpine at Moana 11 Grey River Valley Moonlight Track: Tramp to the Paparoa tops passing stacked stone tailing walls, hut sites, water race and collapsed battery. 1 - 2 day tramp.

Ngahere: A Hokitika-built Davidson logging locomotive stands on a siding by Highway 7 near Ngahere. The last of the West Coast gold dredges operates in the Grey River between Ngahere and Blackball.

Kotuku: The shell of a timber kiln is all that’s left of Jack’s Mill, but it is well depicted in a museum (open Sundays) at a former school. A scaled-down bungalow built by pupils is a further attraction.

Blackball: A mine site with chimneys and a bath house shell remains near the town, once an important centre for the union movement in New Zealand. The historic local pub formerly known as The Blackball Hilton contains a lot of information on mines and union. Town walk around historic buildings and sites. The Ngahere-Roa railway line retains a Howe truss timber bridge.

Brunner Mine: The seam was mined from 1864 and the area also produced coke and bricks. It was the scene of New Zealand’s worst industrial disaster in 1896, when an explosion killed 67 men and boys who worked in the mine. Many are buried in a mass grave at nearby Stillwater Cemetery. Besides industrial relics, the Brunner site has a renovated suspension bridge over the Grey River.

Brunner Memorial - Brunner Mine Site Greymouth and Surrounds Established as the port and supply centre for the first gold rush, Greymouth has plenty of interest in and around. The i-SITE Visitor Centre can direct you to:

Coal River Park: on many aspects of life in buildings. Commemorating the area, including gold Greymouth’s history as a and coal mining. It also Left Bank Art Gallery: major coal export centre, contains a 3D map of A National Collection of this riverside feature the area showing the coal Contemporary Pounamu includes giant coal drill mines. artwork by leading New sculptures and restored Zealand pounamu artists coal wagons and view of Heritage Town Walk: and carved entranceway the operating port built Takes you on a journey depicting one of the Maori largely in the 1880s. around the historic legends of the origins of buildings in Greymouth. greenstone. History House Museum: Murals depicting the Contains a huge collection history of the town can Cobden Gun of photographs and relics be seen on many of the Emplacement: A short (but steep) climb to a WW2 relic with town and river views. 20 minutes uphill walk.

Drill Sculptures - Coal River Park ‘Q’ Wagons - Coal River Park 13 Greymouth to Hokitika Following the route taken by miners on foot and horse drawn tram. The modern road passes through areas thoroughly turned over for gold.

Places of Interest Greenstone: The centre for the first gold rush still has a cemetery and old workings. Shantytown: A faithfully recreated pioneer town that reveals the character of today’s New Zealander. Engaging, Three Mile Hill: A sawmill, steam engine and boiler still interactive activities and true stories of the treasure sit beside the Kumara-Greenstone Road. seeking immigrants who arrived from all corners of the globe for one of the 19th century’s great gold rushes. Goldsborough: Sluice nozzles, mining tunnels and a public gold panning area. The valley was one of the Woods Creek Track: A bush walk through old gold longest lasting goldfields and once had over 140 miles of workings with tunnels and water races to explore. 45 high level water races, walking and tramping tracks. minutes walk return. Stafford: Cemetery headstones tell of the many Kumara: A great hydraulic sluicing field where entire nationalities and cultures of the gold rush miners. hillsides were washed away to get at the pay dirt – but the colossal Londonderry Rock remains. Relics include the Blue Spur Tourist Drive: Highlights are panels depicting former swimming pool built amongst gold sluice tailings pounamu, 5km up the Arahura Valley from the historic and a memorial to New Zealand Premier R. J. “King SH6 road/rail bridge, and a one-hour bush walk through Dick” Seddon. intricate 1860s gold workings.

Shantytown Visitor Attraction Hokitika and Surrounds The West Coast goldfields capital, Hokitika grew at a speed to match the arrival rate of diggers in their thousands during the 1860s gold rushes. The port was known to hold 40 ships at one time and half that number were wrecked in one year. The i-SITE Visitor Centre in the former Carnegie library can direct you to: West Coast Historical Hokitika valley with panels Museum: Audiovisual, tracing the Coast’s last archives research centre great gold rush. and a model gold dredge amidst a wealth of displays. Lake Kaniere Walkway: Follows a water race built Hokitika Heritage Walks: to supply gold mines and Shop window panels trace still driving New Zealand’s site histories. Maritime oldest operating power heritage area at the river station. 2-3 hours return. mouth recalls the busy port and its treacherous Mahinapua: A 3 hour entrance. Heritage trail, return walk follows an Seaview Lighthouse more than 8km and old bush tram route, 2 hours, encompasses passing timber milling features such as lighthouse, relics. See also a timber cemetery, explorer’s truss rail bridge alongside monument and Hokitika the highway and an old bridge history. paddle steamer at Lake Mahinapua. Seaview: A 19th century lighthouse, pioneer graves, Sth Westland Air Service: monuments to Parehaka A replica Fox Moth plane prisoners and pakeha at Hokitika Airport and explorers, and views to sea panels at the old aerodrome and mountains. site south of the river by SH6 commemorate New Rimu/Woodstock Hill Zealand’s first scheduled Lookout: Lookout above air service in 1934. ‘Tambo’ - Hokitika Carnegie at Night 15 Ross to Harihari Alluvial gold that ran thirty metres below the surface resulted in Ross becoming the most mechanised of the early goldfields on the West Coast – and despite some spectacular failures it turned out one of the richest paying fields in New Zealand.

Places of Interest

Information and Heritage Centre: Has a covered gold panning area, models of gold mining machinery inside and full-scale replicas outside. An original settler’s cottage and the former town jail provide insights into life in the past.

Walkway: Visitor Centre - Ross Follows a high-level water race past gold workings and a replica miner’s hut to the original town cemetery with great views. Guided walks are available. 45 minutes moderate walk.

Ross Curio Room: Packed with everyday objects that other people threw away.

Pukekura: The “Puke Pub” and Bushman’s Centre contain relics of bush life and depict how people made a living from the forest.

Harihari: A replica Avro Avian aeroplane commemorates the first trans-Tasman solo flight in 1931. Information panels Guy Menzies Memorial Park - Harihari indicate the landing site. Glacier Country Okarito: A township sited on a saltwater lagoon was the port and supply centre for a gold rush in 1866. A restored wharf cargo shed, Donovan’s Store and the old schoolhouse (now a youth hostel) remain.

Franz Josef: Tatare tunnels pass through solid rock to nearby gold workings. St James’s Church has regained its famous glacier view in opposition to global warming. The Cape Defiance alpine hut, complete with historic contents, has been transplanted from the Glacier to the i-SITE Visitor Information Centre. Recreational gold panning above the main road bridge at the Waiho River.

Gillespies Beach: A cemetery and relics from two gold dredges, together with Donovan’s Store - Okarito a walking track to a tunnel designed for pack horse traffic, recall a rich beach gold field.

Haast Visitor Centre: Displays depict travellers from Maori to modern road makers.

Jackson Bay: The Coast’s most southern settlement with the region’s only sea wharf and earliest European grave.

Wharf - Jackson Bay 17