The next stop on our mining tour was a bit of an unknown, we had seen a brief mention of the site in a leaflet and as it was close to some of the other places we were planning on visiting, we thought it might be worth investigating. After stopping in a small pull-off by the side of the rural road, we found ourselves walking through what seemed like an old avenue of trees before coming across a collection of stone buildings.
We walked down what would have been the main street past a restored miners cottage opposite the mining company office and assay office. We could also make out the remains of the terraces that formed the gardens the miners had started behind their cottages. Sadly nothing much remained of the pub that was owned by Edward Withers, who was both the mine manager and only pub owner in town, clearly a savvy businessman!
Just up the hill from the small settlement was the poppet head, this 14 metre high timber structure is one of only two that remain in New Zealand. The poppet head was used to move miners and ore up and down the 45 metre mine shaft on the site. On Sundays, when the miners were enjoying a day off, the poppet head was used to remove buckets of water from the shaft.
The mine had quite a checkered history, and actually had it’s most successful year in 1931 when 1990 ounces of gold were recovered. When the mine was started in 1868, the fine gold particles were hard to extract and it is estimated that as much as 50% of the gold was lost. The problems for the mine only got worse when the water in the mine became to much to safely and efficiently continue operations.
It wasn’t until 1928 that the mine reopened with better equipment that allowed the mine to start to make money. The use of new technology such as boilers allowed the water to be extracted, enabling them to continue the mine shafts deeper into the hillside.
The boilers were still in great condition, and you could even see where the miners had ‘improved’ them by adding what appeared to be an old metal barrel to the end of the chimney. After spending some time investigating all the equipment and buildings we made our way back to the car, really pleased that we had made the extra stop.