2010 First writing, 2021
update By Anne Stewart Ball
This is Part I The Early Days of Thames Goldfield “A Slice of Industrial and Transport Heritage" Part I
To see Part II go to The Early Days of Thames Goldfield “A Slice of Industrial and Transport Heritage" Part II
The Beginning
As one drives into Thames in 2010, there is a reminder of those early days of mining, just over 140 years ago on the Thames Goldfields - a Welcome Sign and a reminder of this town’s past - stampers that once used to crush quartz. A town that is silent now, but where in the past, things were so different. A town that was humming with a “Gold Rush” and with, it was said, the noise of numerous stampers in batteries, crushing the quartz to extract the precious metals trapped within.
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| The Old Big Pump, Thames NZ. Tramways chute and in centre background a poppet In Weston, Fred (compiler). Jubilee Souvenir –Thames Goldfields-A History From Proclamation Times To 1927. Thames: “ Thames Star”, July ,1927. p 20 |
According to Weston:-
“at one time there were 693 head of stampers pounding away upon ore from the Thames mines. “ However Weston also was to write
“Even this does not represent the whole battery strength, for after the date of the register ( early 1870’s) from which the above list were taken there were erected the 40-stamper Piako battery, at the foot of the Karaka Creek, between Mackay street and Baillie street, and the Imperial Crown battery, another 40, on Beach Road, opposite the Big Pump; the Herald, 20, also on Beach Road; and the Caledonian, 62 at the back of the lagoon now formed between Waiotahi and Moanataiari Creek.”
John Logan Campbell, at the time of writing on his early years as a settler in 1840, had seen and been closely involved with the development of steamer transport, railways and the changes to what is today called Thames. He took a keen interest in the developments. Apart from a business interest, it is known that he had long conversations on this “new technology”, with its uses and benefits for the wider community. He was to write:
“Pulling against wind and tide in an open boat is one thing, steaming along at eight or nine knots an hour is quite another thing. I little thought then that I should live to see daily steamers crossing the Hauraki Gulf at more points than one. Passenger-laden steamers larger than petty ferry-boats were then almost an unknown quantity in Australian waters, quite unknown in Poenamo.”
The years 1867 to 1874 – the beginning years of the Thames
Goldfields – saw new developments with steam. It was used to run the engines
and boilers of the multitude of batteries sprung up to crush the quartz. Later
mining batteries used water power and a new technology – hydro electricity - as
steam was an expensive process.
Steam in 1867 – 1874 provided a quicker means of transport
to and from Thames and steamers with more ability to travel into shallower
waters than sailing ships. Thames also saw the development of tramways and
later railways, along with the rolling stock, to be used for transport on
these. With the use of steam went development of the use of iron rather than
wood for steamers and mining machinery.
Thames was a place that my first generation NZ family
settlers of Stewart and MacFarlane came to, by nature of occupation and
community, much like the many others who came to this Goldfield. In industrial
mining, it was the infrastructures that went in to the mines and batteries. In
the transport field it was with the steamers which provided the vital transport
link to a newly formed mining town, the lighthouses a necessary navigation aid
for what had become a busy sea route; the tramways and later railways that were
to begin.
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| Moanataiari Hill, early years of Thames Goldfields, NZ Those coming to and from Thames regularly by sea , including writer’s family forebears, would have seen a rapidly changing landscape such as this view in those years. |
Infrastructures for a Mining Town
When the Thames Goldfield was declared open in August of
1867, many of the prospectors expected to find alluvial gold – the stuff that
could be got through panning and which gave a nickname to a claim as that of
“poor man’s ground “because not much capital was needed to work it and many had
a chance of finding “a lucky strike” and perhaps a fortune.
Instead the goldfield was found to be auriferous – which
carried a nick name “rich man’s ground” for it needed capital, batteries and
machinery – the stampers to break up the quartz to get the precious metals within.
The batteries being constructed needed water and the mining claims needed
tramways to bring the quartz from their claim to the batteries. Not all claims
and companies had their own batteries and relied on others to supply this need.
The applications were many and it was a hard-pressed Provincial Engineers
Office trying to meet the rapid growth of an industrial mining town. The Daily
Southern Cross carried a report from the Provincial Engineer and Chief Engineer
and Surveyor of the Goldfields to the then Superintendent, Auckland Province -
in 1868 this was John Williamson.
“Sir, — I have the honour to report for your information that up to the present time one hundred and forty applications for water races, machine sites, roads and tramways have been referred to me for my opinion, by the Wardens of the Thames goldfield. This whole of these explorations have been personally examined, by me on the ground, be far as I have been enabled to reach upon them, but as several lie at considerable distances from here, and some of them are for leases which require to be surveyed, I have, up to the present period, been quite unable to find time to deal with them, notwithstanding exertions on my part that cannot be continued.”
His report also said that there was a need to begin a
trigonometrical survey at once, work on plans for other government offices and
buildings and a need for a water supply for Shortland. In 1868 the collections
of settlements on Thames Goldfields were Grahamstown, Shortland and Tararu at
the Northern end – later called Thames that is seen today in 2010.
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| Looking toward Thames from Tararu NZ March 2010, photo CRB collection |
Soon after the Daily Southern Cross reported a petition
signed by 600 of the miners of Thames, presented by Mr. Grove to Provincial
Council Meeting. The petitioners
expressing dissatisfaction with delays, asked for improvements to existing
wharves, a wharf at Tararu, a railway connecting Tararu with Shortland and
tramways. Petitions and meetings on the problems of infrastructure were common
occurrences in those early years of the goldfields.
Engineers and Surveyors
Engineers and surveyors were kept busy with chartography of
the goldfields, claim boundaries, the water races, machine sites, roads and
tramways that the Provincial Engineer wrote about in his report of 1868 to the
Provincial Superintendent. Charles O’Neill C.E. who had been appointed mining
surveyor for the Thames goldfield in 1868 and Thames engineer-in-chief of railways, tramways and wharves was also active.
1871 saw a first legislative bill for control of town planning in New Zealand,
introduced by Charles as an elected MHR for Thames Goldfield. Unfortunately the
bill which included provisions for wide streets and public reserves did not
make it through in 1871 but another passed in 1876, reflected Charles O’Neill’s
first bill in 1871.
However in the beginning years of the goldfields and Thames
as a town, apart from the cries for water races, wharves, tramways and
railways, some were to observe the layout of the town. The Thames Miners Guide,
1868 wrote:-
“The township of Shortland is exceedingly well laid out, the streets are wide and very numerous, the houses are substantial, and in Pollen-street tolerably uniform. This is the principal street, and it can boast of containing the Court House, Post Office, and Custom House (all in a neat one-story building), four banks, a theatre, five hotels, five eating houses or restaurants, a local journal, and stores of all descriptions. There are four churches and chapels (one for each denomination), several small schools, and, to crown all, an American coach runs between Shortland and Tookey's Flat. The only drawback to Shortland is the mud; literally speaking, you cannot walk along the streets without danger of being swamped.”
A number of Engineers, who were also Surveyors, were
appointed Goldfields Surveyors. Amongst them Daniel Manders Beere, Edward
Holroyde Beere, John Gywneth, Thomas Sandes and John Goodall. Samuel Harding
was also appointed a Minefields Surveyor.
Those Engineer / Surveyors also became involved in the survey and construction of the Auckland Provincial Railways along with their accompanying bridges, culverts, stonework and water towers. For several, this was not a new involvement in railways. Daniel Manders Beere had previously worked in an Engineering Practice with his uncle in Canada and as in Canada, continued his photographing of the Auckland Province “the way it was then.”
Today in 2010 most of the railways are now closed. However
there are some heritage relics of bridges, culverts, stonework and water towers
remaining – a reminder of the work of those Railway Engineers & Surveyors
back in those early days.
Water – “Too Little or Too Much”
Batteries in the early era of the Thames Goldfields relied
on water to drive the stampers. Coal was an expensive commodity and this was
pre electricity days. Water it seemed from accounts, at times was a dearth of,
with batteries lying idle because there was not enough flow to drive the
machinery. At the other end of the scale, at times there was too much, with
both floods and storms wreaking havoc with mines, battery machinery, wharves
and tramways.
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| Thames, NZ in March 2010 – A town still against the hills of the range behind Built up housing more restricted on the flats, photo CRB collection |
The Daily Southern Cross reported a March 1871 gale where
“Lalla Rookh was deposited on the extensive pipi bank at the mouth of the
creek” The creek being the Kauaeranga.
p.s. Lalla Rookh was the popular steamer launched in October 1868. Other in
this storm, was extensive damage to the Tararu Wharf.
Creeks overflowing and a number of people’s homes awash with water in the floods of August 1871 also saw a large landslip at Shellback creek, taking with it, part of the roadway. From the reported account, batteries, mines and what men had laboured hard to build were also impacted upon. Damage to the fluming of the Tararu battery along with part of trestle work of a tramway up the Moanataiari Creek swept away. The Tararu, being an area with a small number of batteries but a large number of stampers amongst them.
Less than six months later in February floods again wreaked havoc with mines and batteries. According to the Daily Southern Cross Una Company’s dam was swept away, along with some fluming of the Bulls and Vickery batteries along with a bridge at Tararu. Along with the usual “awash with water” for a number of mines, batteries, and parts of the town.
A gale in August 1872 saw the Albion Company’s high tramway blown down; damage to the Grahamstown wharf where it seems a coal punt adrift carried away two piles.
Reported in the Daily Southern Cross, yet more heavy gales and floods in 1874, said to be the most severe since Thames goldfield opened. This saw four cutters tossed ashore, - Captain Souter & Fernandez’ cutter Sydney, the Lady Ruth, a cutter belonging to a Mr. Hawkes of Tapu and George. According to the report George ended up “in the mangrove swamp on the Shortland Wharf “There was damage to the Grahamstown Wharf along with severe damage to the Tararu Wharf and the Tararu Grahamstown Tramway.
As if this was not enough, further gales and high seas rolling over the tramway embankment in September 1874, bought more damage to the tramway.The Tararu Wharf under repair was also affected. Not long after the Grahamstown Tararu tramway operations were abandoned, a combination of several factors – severe storm damage ; a drop off in passenger traffic to Tararu; the sale of the Steamer Company’s paddle steamer Golden Crown; a restructuring of the Steamer Company and an upgrading of the steamer fleet from wooden to iron vessels.
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| Tararu in 2009 - photo ASB |
Despite the storms and damage digging for, crushing and
extracting of that precious mineral gold, continued onward. While on the
surface, water was either too little or too much, beneath the ground in the
mines, it was too much in places.
The New Zealand Freelance in later years, writing about
experienced and veteran miner of the Coromandel Peninsula Goldfields, H.H.
Adams (Harry), gave an account of an incident in the flooded Bright Smile Mine:
"When nineteen years of age Mr. Adams was underground boss of the "Bright Smile," the' stones of which had fallen woefully on account of flooded workings. He and Clarke, his mate, descended the air shaft, the body of water preventing exit along the drives from the main shaft. As they had orders to go through the levels, they essayed to do so, but their candles went out, and they were in a wet mine and total darkness. There was 9ft. 6in. of water on the flat sheets that had to be crossed to get to the main-shaft, which couldn't be seen, and the two men swam about eighteen yards in the dark and went up the main shift by the ladder-ways 350 ft. They gave the waiting bosses at the top a shock. ”
It was the Bright Smile Mine’s flooding problems that
impacted on surrounding mines of the Waiokaraka - The City of London, Queen of
Beauty, Bird in Hand, Queen of the May, Queen of the Thames, City of York and
the Exchange. Meetings on the drainage question during 1874, Mr. Stewart voted
to chair, occupied the attentions of the Mine owners over who was to do and who
was to pay, along with the activities of the United Pumping Association.
Wardens Court and Mediation solved the debates and arguments. However by
October 1875, Bright Smile had overextended itself a little in the flurry of
new pumps, a new 40 stamper battery, still the water problem and ceased
operations. There followed the usual creditors meetings and eventually new
owners of a new company formed.
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| Queen of Beauty and Bright Smile In Weston, Fred (compiler). Jubilee Souvenir –Thames Goldfields-A History From Proclamation Times To 1927. Thames: |
The first half of the 1870’s saw the formation of the Thames
Pumping Association and the Waiokaraka Drainage Association to address the
problems of water seepage in a number of the mines. The attention of those on
“too much water” beneath was to be occupied into the 1880’s, alleviated with
the opening of the Kauaeranga water race and the Big Pump once more in action.
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| Kaeaeranga Creek water race works on side - early 1970's photo taken by H.T. Gorrie courtesy from Gwen Buttle photo album. PLEASE DO NOT COPY - seek permission to use |
© Researched, compiled and written by Anne Stewart Ball, 2010
Reference Source :
- Weston, Fred (compiler). Jubilee Souvenir –Thames Goldfields-A History From Proclamation Times To 1927.
- Campbell, John Logan. Poenamu. London: Williams and Norgate, 1881. also on websitehttp://www.enzb.auckland.ac.nz/ accessed 22/05/2010
- The Thames Miners Guide, 1868
- COUNCIL PAPERS. – THAMES GOLDFIELD., Daily Southern Cross, 23/12/1868: p4)
- Daily Southern Cross, 12/02/1869: p.3
- Auckland Provincial Gazette 1868
- Daily Southern Cross 27/03/1871: p3
- Daily Southern Cross, 31/08/1871:p3
- Daily Southern Cross, 22/02/1872, p.3
- Daily Southern Cross, 12/08/1872: p 2
- Daily Southern Cross, 02 /06 1874, Page 3
- All Sorts of People, New Zealand Free Lance, 20 /04/ 1907: p 3
- Thames Star, 01/10/1875:p2).
- Website, City of Toronto Archives, accessed 27/05/2010
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