Waiuta

Going home from Lake Brunner we decided to head over the Lewis Pass via Reefton. On the way is the turnoff up the Blackwater Creek to the old gold mining town of Waiuta. I had been there about 30 years ago and was keen to see what is left of it now.

Gold was discovered in the headwaters of the Blackwater Creek on 9 November 1905, King Edwards VII’s birthday. The Birthday Reef as it was called began yielding gold in 1908 when the Blackwater Shaft came into commercial production. The town of Waiuta swelled to a maximum population of 601. (1936 census)

By 1938 a new shaft, the Prohibition was opened up and went down as far as 879m, well below sea-level. The Prohibition shaft taking over as the main entrance to the mine.

Decline started to occur in 1939 with the outbreak of WW2 as miners drifted away to join the armed services.

On 9 July 1951, the original Blackwater shaft collapsed. This was used for ventilation, pumping and electricity supply. Consequently, the mine began to flood and was abandoned. Waiuta quickly became a ghost town with numbers of buildings removed and relocated. Very little remains today.

More about Waiuta can be found here, including some of Joseph Divis’ photos. This site is well worth a diversion to.

Driving up towards Waiuta, the Blackwater School (1913 - 1949) comes into view.

Note the frost in the shadow behind the school.

There are attempts to restore the school and efforts so far in the room show what schools were like around 1949 when it closed.

Classroom, Blackwater School.

Lichen encrusted fencing

Heading up out of the valley towards the plateau at Waiuta, there is a very shady area where there was a good build up of frost.

Frost crystals

One of the first signs of former habitation, indeed maybe still occupied on occasions, is  a small red cottage at Waiuta.

A well preserved cottage, still owned and occupied by the
looks of the sign on the gate.

Blackwater mine engine room.

The fenced off area to the right contains the foundations of the machinery used to lower the cage into the mine shaft.

Blackwater shaft which collapsed in 1951

 Nearby are the remains which looks like a bank, judging by the large sturdy vault.

The old bank?

These above two relicts are all that remain here. There are massive concrete foundations nearby which housed the machinery for the mine. As the mine closed in 1951, my guess is that all the machinery was removed, for scrap or use elsewhere as there were huge shortages of steel after the end of WW2.

The old barber shop.

Overgrown gate

Joseph Divis’ house where he lived until the 1960s

This old house looks as though it had been one of the last to be occupied. The photo below was taken through a broken window.

Apart from some modern facilities for groups to stay, the photos above, apart from the Prohibition mine area, show about all there is to see here. Well worth a visit though, on a fine day.

Today, an extensive area around the Prohibition shaft is closed for the removal of large quantities of arsenic, left over from the removal of gold from the quartz veins.