Towns throughout New Zealand have fallen victim to changing economic times over the years. Now, the remnants of some of these once-thriving places are all that remain.
Many of these towns and settlements were associated with some of New Zealand’s earliest industries says Peter Janssen, author of new bookWorth A Detour: Hidden places and Unusual Attractions.
Benhar, just north of Balclutha, was once a centre of New Zealand’s pottery industry, Janssen told RNZ’s Summer Times.
The Hoffman Kiln in Benhar.
Heritage New Zealand.
“New Zealand had a lot of small potteries, and a lot of them were associated with coal because they needed the fuel. And Benhar was very much like that. It had a gold mine, and then it had a small pottery.”
The Benhar pottery, which came to be owned by the McSkimming family, didn’t specialise in fancy pottery, he says, but more practical items like potties, and toilets.
By the 1920s it was the biggest pottery company in New Zealand, says Janssen.
“It was very much a family town, and the McSkimmings ran it. If you were working there, it was compulsory to go to church on Sunday, it was part of your contract. And you had your pay docked a shilling if you were seen smoking.”
The pottery ran until the 1980s, and then a fire in the 1990s left it in ruins, he says.
“There’s still buildings left, and it’s got some beautiful old workers’ cottages, and of course, the McSkimmings house, which was larger and more elaborate. So, it’s a lovely little spot to visit.”
Upstart Press
The gold boom in New Zealand led to many small settlements springing up. Janssen says Welshtown, an abandoned gold town in Central Otago, is a classic example. The ruins of the village pub still remain.
“Just out of Cromwell, you drive up onto the plateau, it’s got this most amazing view over the mountains.
“And it’s got these beautiful stone little cottages and huts, most of them just missing their roofs, in amongst the tussock and down just below the town in a little valley, is a ruined hotel, the Pen Gallies Hotel, which is a good old Welsh name.”
Mansion House on Kawau Island.
Wikicommons
As well as gold, copper was in high demand, and up north, Kawau Island in the Hauraki Gulf was settled by Cornish miners, he says. These men had expertise in mining under the ocean.
“And again, this was another very religious town where it was compulsory to go to church on Sunday, if you were Cornish.”
The workers’ cottages are all gone, but the impressive mansion house remains.
“At its height it had 300 people to 400 people and three little separate villages. And they were all Cornish miners.”
Until rail and roads were fully developed, ports were vital to New Zealand’s transportation system with much of the interior difficult to navigate.
Tokomaru Bay wharf.
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Janssen says a network of ports sprang up, most now abandoned, to move goods around the country. Tokomaru Bay on the East Cape is a typical example, he says. By the early 1960s the ports had all closed in the East Cape, once the road went in.
Tokomaru Bay remains as a township with a population of just under 500.
“One of the most intriguing is Tokomaru Bay, north of Tologa Bay, if you go to the north of the bay, it has this area of ruined buildings. There’s a ruined freezing works, there are wool stores, the store managers’ houses.”
The abandoned cemetery at Lyell near Murchison.
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Lyell, a once-thriving gold mining town in the Buller Gorge between Murchison and Inangahua is long gone, but Janssen says its cemetary is worth visiting.
“It’s been a ghost town for a long time and in amongst the bush are these concrete steps or the base of a chimney. But the most amazing thing is this incredible cemetery.
“And you really do feel like you’ve walked into a spooky movie. It has tombstones, but it also has those little iron fences around the graves. It doesn’t matter if it’s summer or raining, it’s even more spooky, it’s got the most atmospheric place you could go to for a ghost town.”
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand