IntroductionThe West Coast - Te Tai o Poutini - holds taonga (treasure): pounamu, gold and coal and it was these valuable resources that brought the first settlers to the Coast. For those who were prepared to face the long and dangerous journey there were opportunities to find the treasures, make fortunes or at least earn good wages and thousands were prepared to take those risks.

Visitors to the West Coast need some imagination, but for those who take the time to look there are many fascinating places to discover - and to wonder at the drive and energy of those who lived and worked here.

Today there is little trace of these adventurers. In the rush to find wealth, towns and villages sprang up and flourished for a short time, then declined and often vanished as the miners moved on to richer fields. The bush grew quickly, covering settlements, mine entrances and machinery. Soon all that remained in many places were remnants of buildings and lonely graveyards, testament to those who lived and died here. West Coasters are rightly proud of their past and the legacies left for the present day. Many have memories to share and tales to tell. This booklet aims to tell you some of these, as well as guide you to places where their footprints can be traced.

HistorySigns 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

and a spiritual connection for the first peoples of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Routes the Maori followed to find and fetch pounamu were later pointed out to pakeha (strangers to the land) and made easier for travellers via tracks and roads.

Maori made minimal physical impact on the land, so there is little evidence of their occupation. Sites of great archaeological importance do exist, but are not open to the public. However it is worth keeping in mind as you travel around that there were few parts of the region they did not explore at some time.

While New Zealand was colonised in the early 1800s, the West Coast remained untouched by all but some hardy sealers. Mountains were formidable barriers from the east and those explorers who made it here from the north after long and horrific journeys reported that there was little flat land for settlement, the climate was adverse and the sandflies and bush rats that abounded here made life almost intolerable.

Just a few were convinced that the dense vegetation and boulder-strewn riverbeds could conceal gold. Still, it took two Maori pounamu seekers to make the gold strike in 1864 that sparked off a rush the following year, brought diggers in their thousands and led to the development of other industries including coal mining and timber milling.

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Bruce Bay - South Westland

GoldThe source of gold is in quartz reefs formed by hydro thermal processes far below the earths surface. Over millions of years, erosion by glaciers and rivers has ground down the quartz reefs, freeing it as alluvial or water-borne gold. Some has reached the sea, to be deposited back on the land as fine beach gold. Subsequent earth movement has uplifted many deposits on river and beach, creating auriferous terraces. The first gold sighted was alluvial, small grains and nuggets found in the gravel of river beds where, being heavier than the surrounding rock and gravel, they had sunk to the bottom. Later they were found on terraces, cemented in the gravels of former riverbeds or the sands of ancient sea beaches that had been raised hundreds of metres. It is even found on the present sea beaches.

Some could be worked on a small scale with shovel and sluice box or cradle, but sparser, deeper deposits required companies investing capital in high-pressure sluices, suction elevators and gold dredges. Finally there was reef gold, still trapped within the rocks where it was originally formed, usually in veins or reefs of quartz. Mining it involved workings from the ground surface to depths hundreds of metres below. Recovery of the quartz and extraction of the gold required heavy machinery and chemical processing – again an industry requiring investment and employing labour.

Recreational gold panning using hand methods only is permitted at Stoney/Britannia Streams, Lyell, Slab Hut Creek (near Reefton), Moonlight, Nelson Creek, Goldsborough, Jones Creek (Ross) and Franz Josef.

Lessons in gold panning available at: Mitchell’s Gully (near Charleston), The Buller Swing bridge, Bearded Miner’s (Reefton), Shantytown and the Ross Visitor Centre.

PounamuBeautiful, durable and ableto be honed razor sharp,pounamu was the greatestresource Maori possessedfor jewellery, tools and weapons.

While the name pounamuwas applied mostly tonephrite jade, it could alsodescribe other green stones,particularly bowenite and serpentine. Te Tai o Poutini was the main source of this taonga (or treasure), formed in outcrops along the alps and washed down several rivers, principally the Arahura, Taramakau and Kaimata. An important source was far south of Jackson Bay, from where artefacts survive today.

Maori travelled by land and sea to the region for at least seven centuries in search of the treasured stone, forming the first human trails across the mountains. Many legends revolved around the formation of pounamu and there are heroic stories about the deeds involved in obtaining it and battles fought maintaining the rights to the resource.

The Arahura, one of the rivers excluded from the West Coast sale in 1860, has recently passed into the private Mawhera Incorporation. Other sources are now legally owned by Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu and managed by Poutini runanga Ngati Waewae and Makaawhio.

Pounamu stories are told on panels in the Arahura Valley and in several visitor centres. Traditional artefacts can be seen in the Hokitika and Karamea Musems and the Haast Visitor centre, while the outstanding national contemporary collection of artwork is on display at Greymouth’s Left Bank Art Gallery.

Peter Hughson - PendantKahurangi Jade

Image courtesy Left Bank Art Gallery

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TimberBeginning as a supply industry for gold and coal mining, timber milling soon became a major export industry with large volumes handled by the river ports. Completion of a rail link to Canterbury via the Otira tunnel in 1923 brought a further surge, with sawmills established all along the Midland line.

The first loggers used bullocks or horses to haul logs from the forest, but steam winches soon replaced them in large operations. Steam locos (or ‘lokeys’ to the locals) soon hauled logs to, and sawn timber from, the mills via numerous small tramways through the ever-thinning bush.

Considering the scale of this first phase of the timber industry, little remains to be seen apart from areas of cut-over and regenerating forest, some tramway routes, preserved locos, sawmill sites, and a restored sawmill can be visited via an operating steam train at Shantytown.

From the 1960s a move towards sustainable management practices for the native forests began, particularly in South Westland, and exotic forests in the Central West Coast expanded to provide a long term wood supply on which modern sawmills, timber processing and plywood 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.

CoalCoal began millions of years ago as vegetation submerged in deep swamps and marshes. As the earth’s surface alternately rose and sank, these deposits became compressed into coal. Sandwiched between layers of sandstone and clays, seams can extend for kilometres underground.

West Coast coal was first recorded about 12km up the Grey River by Thomas Brunner, and mining started there in 1864, the same year as the gold rushes began.

The main coalfields are on the flanks of the Paparoa Range north of Greymouth, in the hills around Reefton and on the Buller plateau, a wild and beautiful landscape east of Westport.

Coal has been important to the West Coast economy for more than a century and mining is currently undergoing a resurgence. As the global demand for energy increases, coal is in demand , creating unprecedented production levels from West Coast mines. Much of the coal produced on the Coast is exported for steel manufacturing, although it is also used by industry in the South Island. The high demand has also led to major investments in mining innovation, the shovel and coal tubs now replaced by excavators and huge trucks.

Goldmining ‘Ghost-town’ -Waiuta

Places of Interest

Follow the TrailKarameaKaramea began as a government sponsored “special settlement” in 1874 and is now an isolated and beautiful farming area. Famous for its Nikau palm grove and ancient Karst (limestone) formations and Honeycomb Caves it was also explored for gold.

The Karamea Museum Displays cover Maori history, farming, gold mining,sawmilling, flaxmilling, shipping and the earthquake of1929 that ruined the port and brought more challengesto this isolated community.

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

Seddonville to WaimangaroaChasm Creek Walkway: A surviving section of the Seddonville branch railway also features a tunnel, a bridge and river views. 30 minute return walk. A return night visit is recommended to view the glow worms in the tunnel.

Charming Creek Walkway:Follows a railway line up a spectacular gorge to an abandoned coal mine, sawmill sites and numerous relics. There is access from Ngakawau and beyond Seddonville. 3 hours each way.

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 of Lyttelton on the east coast. A public viewing area is available.

Adams Flat Hut

Charming Creek Wagon

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.

Granity: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.

The Britannia Gold Mine: North of Waimangaroa a bush track leads to quartz mine workings and a complete 5-head stamp battery. Recrea-tional gold panning in the creek. 3 hour return walk.

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Guided Tour of Solid Energy’s Stockton Mine

Britannia Battery and Berdan

Places of Interest

DennistonHaunting, 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.

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 SurroundsThe 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.

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Buller GorgeMaori travellers used the Buller River as a highway and helped early European explorers and gold miners to negotiate the rapids. It has been the scene of earthquakes and floods as well as being the temporary home of transient workers in gold mining times.

Kawatiri Walkway: Based upon a section of old railway with station platform, bridge and tunnel. 30 minute return walk.

Murchison: The museum has a lot of goldfield

information as well as displays on the 1929 earthquake.

Six Mile Murchison Power Station: Up the Matakitaki Valley is a small disused hydro power station and the water race that supplied it.

Buller Swingbridge: Crosses to alluvial gold workings and information panels. Guided walks and opportunities to pan for gold.

Lyell: Marked by a camping area, car park and view point, Lyell is now a ghost town revived

in photographs. It also has a walkway linking a cemetery, alluvial gold workings and a 10-head stamp battery. 1 hour 30 minutes return walk.

Inangahua Junction Earthquake Centre: Recalls the 1968 quake and other aspects of local history.

Denniston Incline ‘Q’ WagonCoaltown Museum - Westport

Places of Interest

The Coast RoadA 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.

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 gold-bearing cement, characteristic of the Charlestonfield. 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.

Strongman Memorial – at Nine Mile, the memorial commemorates the 19 miners who lost their lives in the 1967 coalmine disaster.

Little Earth: The Grey Valley gold mining town of Waiuta, in miniature - at ‘On Yer Bike’, south of Rununga.

Runanga: A display along the main street depicts the history of the current (Spring Creek) and former mines that employ the local town’s workforce. A restored Miners’ Hall, emblazoned with union slogans, also graces the town that vies with Blackball for the title of Home of the New Zealand Labour Party.

Fox River Bridge

Runanga Miners’ Hall

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Reefton and SurroundsAs 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: Encompasses buildings from the town’s earliest days, including the 1872 Courthouse and Oddfellows’ Hall.

Reefton School of Mines: Originally set up to teach miners and surveyors, the School of Mines has a significant minerals collection and fascinating 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

displays and artifacts giving a real insight into the past.

Blacks Point Battery: Behind the museum, a small working stamper battery evokes memories of the big machines that clattered at Crushington, just along the highway.

Historic Courthouse - Reefton

Big River Poppet Head

Reefton and SurroundsReefton Powerhouse Walk: Foundations and some machinery remain at the source of New Zealand’s first public electricity supply. 40 minutes return walk.

Murray Creek Tracks: These give access to the famous Energetic, Inglewood and Ajax reef mines, as well as the Bolitho Brothers’ gold cement mine and battery. 2 hour or full day tramp.

Lankey Creek Track: Part of the Murray Creek system, it passes coal mines and inclines. 4 hours walk from Lankey Creek to Blacks Point.

Golden Lead Walk: Follows the Progress mining company’s water race and ends at the Golden Lead company’s 10-head battery. 3 hours return tramp.

Larrys Creek Track: A small steam engine stands near some open shafts. A stamp battery can be seen across the (often unfordable) creek. 1.5 hours return tramp.

Kirwans Reward: A tramping track to a mountain-top gold mine, descending via an aerial route to a 15-head battery. 2 - 3 days tramping track.

Big River: A remarkably intact quartz mine accessible by tramping tracks and 4WD road. Coal mines that supplied the quartz mine can be visited via a tramway. The sawmill that served the quartz mine is complete with its “Robey underslung” steam engine. Tramping tracks, 4WD access to site. Big River to Inangahua 6 - 7 hours one way. Waiuta to Big River 3 hours 30 minutes one way. Various other walks on site.

Alborns Track: Encompasses relics of a small family coal mining operation that ran on effort and ‘Kiwi ingenuity’ off the Big River road. 1.5 hours return walk.

Blackwater: On the road to Waiuta, the town’s old school contains displays on local mining history. Waiuta: A now deserted gold mining town. Impressive 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

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Grey River ValleyNamed 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 now stands at Shantytown.

Nelson Creek Swingbridge

Croesus Track: Crosses Paparoa Range passing gold workings, miners’ huts and battery. 1 or 2 day tramp. Tranz Alpine at Moana

Grey River ValleyMoonlight 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

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Greymouth and SurroundsEstablished 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: Commemorating Greymouth’s history as a major coal export centre, this riverside feature includes giant coal drill sculptures and restored coal wagons and view of the operating port built largely in the 1880s.

History House Museum: Contains a huge collection of photographs and relics

on many aspects of life in the area, including gold and coal mining. It also contains a 3D map of the area showing the coal mines.

Heritage Town Walk:Takes you on a journey around the historic buildings in Greymouth. Murals depicting the history of the town can be seen on many of the

buildings.

Left Bank Art Gallery: A National Collection of Contemporary Pounamu artwork by leading New Zealand pounamu artists and carved entranceway depicting one of the Maori legends of the origins of greenstone.

Cobden Gun Emplacement: A short (but steep) climbto a WW2 relic withtown and river views.20 minutes uphill walk.

Drill Sculptures - Coal River Park ‘Q’ Wagons - Coal River Park

Greymouth to HokitikaFollowing the route taken by miners on foot and horse drawn tram. The modern road passes through areas thoroughly turned over for gold.

Shantytown: A faithfully recreated pioneer town that reveals the character of today’s New Zealander. Engaging, interactive activities and true stories of the treasure seeking immigrants who arrived from all corners of the globe for one of the 19th century’s great gold rushes.

Woods Creek Track: A bush walk through old gold workings with tunnels and water races to explore. 45 minutes walk return.

Kumara: A great hydraulic sluicing field where entire hillsides were washed away to get at the pay dirt – but the colossal Londonderry Rock remains. Relics include the former swimming pool built amongst gold sluice tailings and a memorial to New Zealand Premier R. J. “King Dick” Seddon.

Greenstone: The centre for the first gold rush still has a cemetery and old workings.

Three Mile Hill: A sawmill, steam engine and boiler still sit beside the Kumara-Greenstone Road.

Goldsborough: Sluice nozzles, mining tunnels and a public gold panning area. The valley was one of the longest lasting goldfields and once had over 140 miles of high level water races, walking and tramping tracks.

Stafford: Cemetery headstones tell of the many nationalities and cultures of the gold rush miners.

Blue Spur Tourist Drive: Highlights are panels depicting pounamu, 5km up the Arahura Valley from the historic SH6 road/rail bridge, and a one-hour bush walk through intricate 1860s gold workings.

Places of Interest

Shantytown Visitor Attraction

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Hokitika and SurroundsThe 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 Museum: Audiovisual, archives research centre and a model gold dredge amidst a wealth of displays.

Hokitika Heritage Walks: Shop window panels trace site histories. Maritime heritage area at the river mouth recalls the busy port and its treacherous entrance. Heritage trail, more than 8km and 2 hours, encompasses features such as lighthouse, cemetery, explorer’s monument and Hokitika bridge history.

Seaview: A 19th century lighthouse, pioneer graves, monuments to Parehaka prisoners and pakeha explorers, and views to sea and mountains.

Rimu/Woodstock Hill Lookout: Lookout above

Hokitika valley with panels tracing the Coast’s last great gold rush.

Lake Kaniere Walkway: Follows a water race built to supply gold mines and still driving New Zealand’s oldest operating power station. 2-3 hours return.

Mahinapua: A 3 hour return walk follows an old bush tram route, passing timber milling relics. See also a timber truss rail bridge alongside the highway and an old paddle steamer at Lake Mahinapua.

Sth Westland Air Service: A replica Fox Moth plane at Hokitika Airport and panels at the old aerodrome site south of the river by SH6 commemorate New Zealand’s first scheduled air service in 1934.

‘Tambo’ - Hokitika Carnegie at Night

Seaview Lighthouse

Ross to HarihariAlluvial 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.

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: 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 indicate the landing site.

Places of Interest

Visitor Centre - Ross

Guy Menzies Memorial Park - Harihari

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Glacier CountryOkarito: 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 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 modernroad makers.

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

Wharf - Jackson Bay

Donovan’s Store - Okarito