Jubilee at Waiuta

The 1931 jubilee, marking 25 years since mining and settlement had begun, was the greatest event in Waiuta's history. A grand parade of floats, shown here being assembled in front of the Empire Hotel on Top Road, was just part of the fun. Sadly, the town's life was already more than half over. In 1951 the Blackwater mine shaft (below the pennanted poppet head in the right distance) suffered a major collapse. The company decided to close the mine and with nothing else to sustain them, most of the inhabitants moved out in a matter of weeks.