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The Waihi Mine and Cornish Pumphouse






On our travels between Whitianga and home last weekend we stopped in at Waihi, a historical mining town in the Hauraki district. According to some internet googling I've done the Cornish Pumphouse was once next to the Martha Mine to fit in with a big steam engine designed to pump water out of the mine. The pumphouse was used until 1929 but from the 1930s was stripped of all it's machinery and left uncared for but in 1983 it was registered with the NZ historic places trust. In 2001 it was moved to a safer site 300 metres away and made more secure.

The mine however from the 1880s until the 1950s was originally underground and became very important for finding gold and silver but since 1987 it has operated as an open pit. From reading news stories over the years it appears that due to the mining various properties around the district have collapsed into the ground from sinkholes so some of the ground is quite unstable, nevertheless it is one of New Zealand's prime historical regions.

Comments

Jarek said…
What a a lovely light. Good photos
18 September 2016 at 17:47
eileeninmd said…
Hello, interesting photo of the mine and pumphouse. Have a happy new week!
19 September 2016 at 01:30
Andrea said…
Oh, with the volcanoes and molten underground everywhere in NZ, it's good this place is not yet sinking totally. It is also blessed that no communities are nearby!
19 September 2016 at 21:07
Rhonda Albom said…
What a neat find. I had never heard of it before. Thanks for doing the google research for us.
19 September 2016 at 23:47
Sallie (FullTime-Life) said…
My Grandfather was a mining engineer, so sites such as this one are always of great interest to me. Thanks for sharing the research .... sidetrips are often the most interesting part of a roadtrip.
21 September 2016 at 09:44
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