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Dorothy–28/03/2007
Be certain to visit Shantytown if you are travelling on New Zealand’s West Coast and want to know more about life in the gold mining days in the 1860s. Shantytown is an effective recreation of a town from that era. It is only 11km (7 miles) from Greymouth and captures the atmosphere of the time by its setting in a bush clad valley and by over thirty buildings full of historic artefacts. The sign at the entrance stresses the unique value of visiting Shantytown –Enter here to living history. You can also experience travel in the style of the nineteenth and early twentieth century as you take a twenty minute train ride through the bush in a steam train or take a short trip on a road through the bush in a stagecoach. You can pan for gold at the end of the train trip.
Choosing the site The site of Shantytown was chosen because the valley where it has been built is where alluvial gold was found in 1866 after gold rushes had been triggered by the discovery of gold on the beaches near modern Paroa. The miners explored further inland to see what deposits had not been carried to the shore. Their search took them to Diamond Gully, and the settlement which grew there was called Rutherglen. Shantytown has been built close to the site of Rutherglen.
The train ride through the bush included in the ticket price Many visitors head straight to the station for the train ride which is included in the admission ticket. The station was built to plans used by the New Zealand Railways. Genuine old fashioned luggage, old-time scales, lanterns and the stationmaster’s hat and coat hanging on a pair of horns all add to the impression of genuine antiquity.
While we were waiting for the train we were fascinated by the excited chatter of the passengers who were talking in a number of languages as well as English, proving to us that Shantytown appeals to international as well as Kiwi travellers.
The carriages have the wooden seats which were standard for passengers in early New Zealand. The train is pulled by Kaitangata, an engine built in 1897 by Sharp, Stewart & Co in Glasgow and used at the Kaitangata coal mine in Otago until it came to Shantytown.
At the end of the train trip for a small charge anyone who wishes can try gold panning. The faces of the people trying their hand at gold panning show their intense concentration. Success is guaranteed.
In summer visitors can watch a sawmill in action.
The Coronation Hall was brought from Ross further south on the West Coast when it was to be demolished.
The Interdenominational Church was from a gold mining town in the Grey Valley with the unusual name of No Town. It was at Ngahere on the Coast until 1958. There are two old organs and an antique signing desk and an old Bible is kept under glass. The church is used for weddings by people who want to be married in a historic church in an unusual setting. There are a venue for a reception and catering facilities on the Shantytown Site.
The Fire Station was built by members of the Greymouth Volunteer Fire Brigade. Inside are two engines, two ladders, a manual pump, and breathing apparatus.
Rewa Hospital is a copy of the type of hospital which was built in a number of places on the West Coast. The equipment much of which has been donated by hospitals around New Zealand includes an early X-ray machine, a table used for examining patients, an operating table, surgical instruments and catheters, crutches, artificial limbs, dressings, a wheelchair, scales, a machine for electro-coagulations for control of bleeding, a pedestal basin, a massage device from 1910, bed pans, an iron lung, iron bedsteads, a dentist’s chair and a set of drawers with dental instruments.
The Bank of New South Wales has the grill behind which the teller could handle money in safety. There are an old till and scales for measuring gold and the press for putting the official seal in the wax on documents. There is notice advertising a ?00 reward for information leading to the capture of those who robbed a bank officer between No Town and the Twelve Mile signpost. There is also on display the first ledger used on the West Coast, hand written in copper plate script.
The Shantytown Post Office has the old switchboard and manual phones and staff photos hang on the walls. Here you can post your mail and have it sent with the special Shantytown postmark.
The school has old fashioned desks, forms, slates and globes, and is rather dark. The pictures on the walls are all black and white.
The printing shop has on display original presses used in printing and an old cash register, and old entertainment advertisements line the walls.
Hannahs Shoe Store has shelves lined with boxes of shoes and an interesting display of shoe repair equipment. As the notice states the first Hannahs shoe store was opened in January 1868 at Charleston, a busy town on the West Coast during the gold rush years – now just a very small village. There are now Hannahs shoe stores in centres throughout New Zealand.
These are just some of the interesting features in the village. Before you leave take a walk in the beautiful bush, visit the Bank of New Zealand with its original frosted windows and gold lettering, the jail with stocks and gallows outside, the Chinese miner’s den with its original “long drop”, the curio shop and gem hall, the jeweller’s shop, the livery stables and the blacksmith, the carpenter’s workshop, and others too numerous to mention. Then post your mail at the Post Office, check out the souvenir shop and finish your tour with a visit to Everybody’s Tearooms for coffee or tea or the saloon of the Golden Nugget Hotel for a glass of West Coast ale.
When we visited Shantytown the large crowd of visitors included overseas tourists and parents with children who were enjoying finding out what life was like in the early days of New Zealand -a great educational opportunity for adults and children.
Photographs for this article were supplied by Yu lian Wang.
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