Thames School of Mining and Museum

We weren’t sure if we would be able to visit this historic school, due to its limited visiting hours but we did. It opened at 11 a.m. and we were there. Chris and I were the only ones on the tour so we could ask Steve, the guide, lots of questions which he was happy to answer.

The buildings contain an extensive collection of rocks, mineral and fossils. The oldest building (1868) was part of a Methodist Sunday school, situated on a Maori burial ground.

In 1867, a gold rush to Thames, one of the richest goldfields in the world, attracted prospectors from around the world. At that time, Thames became NZ’s largest town. Once all the “free” gold was extracted, the government set up this school to develop and teach methods of extracting less accessible gold. It ran until 1954.

In the museum, we saw a framed 1926 certificate re the gold from Thames from the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto.

What we learned from this tour, was that the hills behind Thames were filled with miners trying to make their fortunes. The town grew very quickly from 1867, as miners flooded the Thames goldfields. But the problem was that the gold was very difficult to extract from the quartz that it was embedded in. That meant that a lot of money was needed and a lot of science was required to get the gold out.

Soon, the hills were filled with mine entrances. Stamper batteries (giant crushing machines) were all over the hills, crushing the quartz to get the gold. The batteries made a huge thumping sound 6 days a week for 24 hours a day. Sunday’s were a day of rest and it was so quiet that kids had trouble sleeping.

Our tour gave us a good understanding of why and how Thames grew and declined. Kudos to Steve who did a good job explaining the history of Thames to us.Read more