*The Early Days of Thames Goldfield “A Slice of Industrial and Transport Heritage" Part II

Interior of Thames Hauraki Pumping Plant and formerly Queen of Beauty mine shaft , in 2021 called Bella Pumphouse
  - photo 2010 Chris Ball  

201  First writing, 2021 update  By Anne Stewart Ball

To see   Part I go to The Early Days of Thames Goldfield   “A Slice of Industrial and Transport Heritage" Part I

This is The Early Days of Thames Goldfield   “A Slice of Industrial and Transport Heritage" Part II

“Mines, Batteries and Stampers Galore” 

The Thames Goldfields, found to be auriferous instead of alluvial, meant prospectors turned to industrial machinery to crush the “hard rock.” The following charts have been compiled from across a number of sources to show the extent and development of the industrial mining processes – the batteries and stampers - on the Thames Goldfields. There were plenty of these.

Thames-Hauraki pump and level shaft. Price, William Archer, 1866-1948 :Collection of post card negatives. Ref: 1/2-001558-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22576601

    THAMES GOLDFIELDS: BATTERIES & STAMPERS 1869 – 1870’S (APPROXIMATE ONLY)

The following chart records batteries opened in the 1880’s during an era when the Thames Goldfields was undergoing significant changes.

THAMES GOLDFIELDS UPGRADED OR NEW BATTERIES IN THE EARLY 1880’S

Reference Source to Charts: 

1. Daily Southern Cross 20 September 1869 p 5 and 29 September 1869 p6.

2. Also various other newspaper reports from Daily Southern Cross, Evening Post, and Thames Star 

3. Weston, Fred (compiler). Jubilee Souvenir –Thames Goldfields-A History From Proclamation Times To 1927. Thames: “Thames Star”, July, 1927.

4. Thames Miners Guide 1868

5. John Isdale, NZHPT Thames School of Mines, Thames, NZ 

Reference sources for 1868 – 1869 generally referred to the batteries in the areas Grahamstown, Kuranui, Karaka and Tararu. Subsequent reference sources of the 1870’s had introduced describing by Creek location.

Tararu

 From the Chart, the four batteries in the Tararu area of the 1870’s, although few in number of batteries, were large in the number of stampers employed. Men of practical skills and knowledge managed these batteries – Mr. James Steedman (JB) for Messrs Brown, Campbell & Co, Mr. James Darrow for Flora MacDonald and Mr. William Thorburn for Wild Missouri. Typical of this era, these men also involved themselves in the community life of Thames. Messrs Brown, Campbell & Co’s battery was also known as the Tararu Creek Battery – named practically for the creek which it operated beside.

Machinery for Russell’s battery was shipped aboard the Hero from the company of P.N. Russell and Co of Sydney. (G Russell being one of the proprietors of Russell’s battery). It was also P.N. Russell and Co. who built the steamer p.s. Rangiriri to the order of the New Zealand Government in 1863, shipped to New Zealand in prefabricated parts and reassembled at Port Waikato. (Today in 2021 p.s. Rangiriri, restored relic in Hamilton, is New Zealand’s second oldest iron vessel existing.) Mr Steedman had also formerly assisted James Stewart (designer of) in the steamer construction operations at Port Waikato. The Daily Southern Cross reported in 1871 the purchase of Russell’s battery by Messrs  Stannus Jones and J.S. Macfarlane. 

James Darrow, typical of many of the Battery and Mine Managers, was to go on from Flora MacDonald Battery to the Queen of Beauty Battery and then to the timber industry – Darrow & Kilgour. According to the Hawkes Bay Herald in January 1870, the Flora MacDonald Battery owned by Messrs Gibbons & Co was christened by Lady Bowen. This when Governor and Lady Bowen visited Thames on an Official Occasion in 1870.  

Goldmine (Sylvia Reduction Works) beside the Tararu Creek, Thames-Coromandel District, including native bush and mine structure. Beere, Daniel Manders, 1833-1909 :Negatives of New Zealand and Australia. Ref: 1/4-034283-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22422377

Later years at Tararu – the late 1880’s early 1890’s - saw the purchase of the Little Agnes Claim and the formation of the Sylvia Goldmining Company with a syndicate of Thames, Auckland and Melbourne owners. The New Zealand Directors being Captain Colbeck, Messrs Seymour , George, J. S. Macfarlane, E. McDonnell, and Dr Scheidel. - This J.S. Macfarlane of the 1890’s not to be confused with the J.S. Macfarlane of the 1870’s. (different persons) Under the management of Dr. Scheidel a new cyanide process for extraction of gold was developed. Dr. Scheidel published a book on this in 1894. Scheidel, heading the New Zealand Mines Trust Ltd was to establish the Commonwealth Portland Cement Co Ltd in Australia and today in 2021  he is regarded as the “ father” of the Portland Cement industry in Australia.

Kauri at Tararu Creek, Thames Goldfield. (46 feet in circumference). By Hugh Boscawen, From a photograph by Messrs. Foy Brothers, Shortland. In Kirk, T. F.L.S. The Forest Flora of New Zealand. Wellington: Government Printers, 1889. No 79. next to p 142 

Kuranui

The Shotover No 1 battery on the chart was formerly called “Goldfinder” opened in October 1868 christened by Hunt’s daughter (Thames Miners Guide, 1868, p 80) This was also where the first “Bonanza” of gold on the Thames Goldfields was struck shortly after opening in 1867, by prospectors Hunt & others.

The Chart shows that the Kuranui Battery was the largest in the Kuranui area of the goldfields. The Thames Miners Guide wrote that Kuranui was the second claim pegged out on the Thames Goldfields and the first mining company registered in December 1868.

Kuranui, the largest battery in the Kuranui area – crushed in addition to their own, also for other claims, amongst them the Shotover (Hunt & others claim), Golden Crown and Queen of Beauty. This arrangement was typical of the goldmining companies and batteries of that era. It was at Kuranui that what became known as “ the Kuranui Boiler Disaster” occurred in 1874, an accident that became the forerunner of one of New Zealand’s first pieces of Occupational Health & Safety Legislation.

Sign in March 2010, marking the site of what was once Kuranui Battery, and the Shotover Mine where there was the “Goldfinder” Battery Thames, NZ. photo CRB collection 

Moanataiari, Waiotahi, Grahamstown

Batteries with their stampers were by far, in the greatest concentration near the immediate area around Grahamstown and no doubt a reason for the close location of “Script Corner”, where goldmining shares were bought and sold with a “frenzy” and “fever.’ From the chart can be seen the marked increase of stampers of the Caledonian Battery. The early 1870’s was the hey day of the Caledonian’s Mine “ Big Bonanza” and a lucky find for its many, many shareholders. Golden Crown

close by was also another “Bonanza” find and as Caledonian operated its own stampers. Both mines, also in addition to their own batteries crushing, sent parcels of quartz to the other batteries nearby. Thames historian A.M. Isdale wrote:-

“The greatest "concentration of these quartz crushing machines" was on or near the Premier lava flow from which 85% of the gold on the Thames came” ( Isdale, 1967 , p10)

Not all claims were “Bonanza” fortunate. Dayspring battery was typical of some of the smaller claims, running its own small head of stampers to crush its own parcel of quartz. Dayspring was typical of many, in the different picture presented in the 1870s of batteries which disappeared, added more stampers, or established. 1869 and 1870 saw a number of changes in claim and company ownership along with the amalgamation of some, disappearance of others and new finds discovered.

At a shareholders’ meeting of Dayspring Goldmining Company in July 1869 the interim directors – Dr. Fisher, Messrs Stewart, Low, Macfarlane, and Ritchie - decided on a capital of £12,000, in 12,000 shares of £1 each, of which 15s. per share is paid up. The Dayspring Goldmining Company was registered in 1869 and further activity in 1870

Sign in March 2010 marking the site of what was once the
 Caledonian Mine
Thames, NZ. Photo CRB collection

Sign in March 2010 marking the site of what was once the Golden Crown Mine Thames, NZ.
 p.s. Golden Crown named after this mine and one of the steamers transporting boxes of gold
Photo CRB collection

Karaka

The Chart shows a large increase in the number of batteries and stampers during the 1870’s in the Karaka Creek area. Weston wrote referring to growth of the Waiokaraka in the Diamond Jubilee Souvenir Book of the Thames Goldfields in 1927. (Weston, 1927, p 72)

Queen of Sheba, registered 1869  and Mount Macedon, registered 1870.  By November 1870, Queen of Sheba was better known as Queen of Beauty.  Queen of Beauty (formerly Queen of Sheba) in the early days of the goldfield, used the batteries of Bulls, Vickery’s, Perry’s, Gows and Kauwaeranga for crushing. By July 1874, according to the Thames Star reporting on Queen of Beauty quartz crushing activity wrote:-

“This mine is now employing 83 head of stamps in the reduction of their stuff — 30 at the Kuranui,10 at the Manukau, 20 of their own, and 23 at Bull's battery; and (out of a mine owned by half-a[1]dozen men )” (THE QUEEN OF BEAUTY, Thames Star,24/07/1874: p.2 ) 

Showing the interior of a gold quartz crushing battery at the Queen of Beauty Mine, Thames goldfields  Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 7-A1601

For this mine, while not the spectacular gold returns of what became the famous Caledonian mine, continued on towards the 1880s with steady returns. Salmon wrote that there were seven shareholders  These were William Thomas, William Barker, Ronald McDonald, James Stewart, James McCabe,  John McCabe and Patrick Walsh. William Tonks was also recorded as a shareholder. 

A number of Queen of Beauty’s staff were sought by others such as Engineer Peter Jack, who was approached to assist with the development of the Taranaki steel manufacturing company’s new works. This was the New Zealand Titanic Steel and Iron Company, set up at Te Henui Beach, New Plymouth in 1873 to process iron sands, a second attempt to manufacture marketable steel in New Zealand.

The Piako Battery (formerly Bright Smile) with its 40 stampers was also typical of stampers when finished with. Stampers were expensive machines and iron a costly item to ship to New Zealand in those days. This one was recycled over to the Waiorongomai Goldfields, where both James Stewart and H.H. Adams (Harry) were involved in the preparation and construction of the Piako County or Waiorongomai Tramway.

Looking up Waiokaraka Valley in March 2010.
 Right foreground is Bella Pumphouse behind which is the site
of the old Queen of Beauty Mine Shaft, photo CRB collection

General

From the compiled Chart of the Batteries on the Thames Goldfields recorded is an approximate total of 615 stampers in 1869, with the highest concentration of these quartz crushing machines being in Grahamstown area and the second highest in Tararu area. In the 1870’s – the heyday of Thames mining – the chart shows an approximate total of 907. A growth in number of batteries in the Grahamstown and Karaka areas and reduction at Tararu.

“ The usual preparations having been made by swinging a bottle of champagne suspended by red, white, and blue ribbon over the fly- wheel of the engine, the machine was started, and Miss Whitson let the bottle fall against the rapidly revolving fly-wheel, and Mr. Burrall called for three cheers for the " Whau Detective Machine." The call was most heartily responded to by those who had been invited  to be present, and by the workmen who had been engaged in the erection of the building and  machinery.” 

Given 1869 was well before the age of ear muffs, machine baffling for noise reduction and dust control measures, the writer of this, can only conjecture what noise levels were then. Or read the early accounts of those early days. 

“They saw batteries both idle and at work, thundering away with a prodigious noise, and wished they would do their work quietly. For the first time got an inkling of the labour a sovereign represented precious yellow ore.” 

In this early era of steam machinery, the developments were many. The aim of crushing was to get the utmost amount of gold from the quartz, with new techniques and methods constantly developed.

The second “flush” of mining 

– 1880’s New mining companies were formed e.g. Alburnia Gold Mining Co headed by Chairman of Directors, Thomas Macffarlane e.g. Former batteries were bought and upgraded ( Alburnia in the instance of The Prince Albert and Greenvilles the Hape. In July 1885 Cambria purchased Queen of Beauty Battery. The Thames School of Mines opened November 1885, giving the Mining Industry opportunity of formally recognised qualifications and training in the roles of those managing and operating new technologies. Significant changes for this Goldfield and others.

1900 – 1910 Overlooking Thames. Price, William Archer, 1866-1948 :Collection of post card negatives. Ref: 1/2-001539-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22809377

From Disaster - Safety Legislation 

 This was what came to be known as the Kuranui Boiler disaster which occurred at the Kuranui Company in one of the battery machines. Campbell in 1987 was to write the following “However in 1874 the Inspection of Machinery Act was passed, it no doubt stimulated by a fatal boiler explosion that had occurred on the Thames gold field”. (Campbell, 1987, p.13) 

 The disaster occurred on 24 January 1874, causing the serious loss of three lives. The Daily Southern Cross, after the accident, and after some of the evidence given in the inquest reported 

 “The cause of the accident is briefly this, so, far, as it can be understood: The boiler had 'been repaired and cleaved about a week ago, land has only been at work five days. It was discovered today that a thick coating of saline deposit had crusted the iron in the crown of the boiler to a thickness of half an inch.This prevented the water from coming in contact with the iron, consequently the latter became red hot over the furnace, and owing to the pressure of the steam it collapsed, as much as the tension of the iron allowed, but when the utmost extent of its expansion - was" reached the iron rent along the seam." The consequence was that the steam and water together burst into the furnace and rushed through the flues, carrying death to the poor fellows.” 

A commission of three expert engineers were appointed, a number of interviews that identified cause and solution. A  report from the three expert engineers and: 

From Disaster - One of First Pieces Safety Legislation in NZ 

Into 1875 Thames goldfields saw the Machinery Act 1874 in place – and even though there were detractors, this was a first step in health and safety in the workplace and towards prevention of likes of a recurrence of such as the “Kuranui Boiler Disaster.”  Battery and stamper operators sat what was called The Stationary Engine Drivers certificate.

Practical Gold-mining: A Comprehensive Treatise on the ...books.google.co.nz › books

Charles George Warnford Lock · 188

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Reference Source: 

• Campbell, I.B,. Legislating for Workplace Hazards in New Zealand. Palmerston North: Stylex Printer, Massey University, 1987. 
• Cyclopaedia NZ, Auckland Province, 1902
• Isdale, A.M. History of " the River Thames" NZ. A.M.Isdale Publishing, 1867
• Salmon, J.H.M. A History of Goldmining in New Zealand. Wellington, New Zealand: R.E. Owen, Government Printer, 1963
• Thames Miners Guide,1868, p.72
• Weston, Fred (compiler). Jubilee Souvenir –Thames Goldfields-A History From Proclamation Times To 1927. Thames: “ Thames Star”, July ,1927. 
• NZ Gazette 1869/510. 1870/91, 1870/359
• NZ Gazette, 1869, p.454
• Daily Southern Cross, 10/11/1870: p 3
• Daily Southern Cross, 15 /07/1871: p 2
• Hawke's Bay Herald, 21/01/ 1870: p 3
• FRIGHTFUL BOILER ACCIDENT AT THE THAMES. THREE LIVES LOST Daily Southern Cross 26/01/1874, p.3
• Daily Southern Cross, 15/01/1875, Page 2
• Thames Star, 07/02/1893: Page 2
• Website Heritage: New South Wales accessed 27/05/2010
• Portland NSW - History  accessed 18/07/2021