Pages tagged with: coal mining

The West Coast coalmining settlement of Seddonville, 50 kms north of Westport, was named in honour of the Liberal Premier Richard Seddon. It was also the site of an early experiment in state socialism – New Zealand's first state coal mine opened there in 1903.

After John Rochfort discovered fragments of bituminous coal in a river north of Westport in 1859, the search was on for accessible coal seams that could be mined.

Premier Richard Seddon decided that the best way to challenge the coal companies was to establish government-owned mines that would provide cheaper coal as well as setting better working conditions for miners.

The block of coal discovered in the headwaters of Charming Creek created interest after the closure of the state mine.

There are major advantages to using hydraulic mining for coal, including the lack of dust as well as minimising the risk of explosions and fires.

After 1956 there was a sharp decline in the demand for coal as many customers changed to oil.

Photographer Henry Winkelmann captured this mixed train with passenger carriages crossing Chasm Creek bridge in 1903

A fully laden coal train, about to leave for Westport.

A short history of the coal trains that ran on the Seddonville line.

Powered by Ww571, a freight train carrying timber and coal crosses Chasm Creek bridge in December 1968

Part of the old railway line west of Seddonville has been converted into a short walkway, which crosses the historic Chasm Creek bridge

Many of the private mines in the Seddonville area reworked areas where coal had been left in the ground by earlier mines.

The cover picture on an issue of New Zealand Coal in 1982 featured all the paid-up members of the Charming Creek union, then thought to be the world’s smallest union.

This diagram illustrates how water was used to in mining at Charming Creek Mine.

This wooden flume at the Charming Creek mine was typical of the flumes used to move coal with the aid of running water.

For many years Tom Moynihan was owner of the Moynihan Coach Company. He later moved to Westport, where he was involved with hydraulic mining at a number of localities.

Danny Laurie leads pit-pony ‘Speedy’, hauling a rake of empty trucks back to the mine in 1948.

A converted tractor tows coal-filled wagons across a suspension bridge over the Ngakawau River in the 1940s.

Drilling and detailed geological surveys had shown the presence of an area of coal in the headwaters of Charming Creek in 1911-12.

When the government decided to allow private interests to have a lease over known coal deposits in the Charming Creek area, there was some public concern

This plan of the Seddonville State Mine  shows the extent of mine workings soon before the mine closed.

Coal from the Seddonville State Mine was a centrepiece of the display by the Mines Department in the 1906-07 International Exhibition at Christchurch

A new section of railway had to be built to carry coal out of the Cave Section that was developed by the Seddonville State Mine in 1903.

Report of Premier Richard Seddon speaking at Seddonville on 21 February 1902.

Sulphurous seep from a coal drill hole beside the Charming Creek walkway

This distinctive bowstrung suspension bridge was constructed over the creek to open a new block of coal.

View over Seddonville, with the Westport-Cardiff Coal Company’s bins and coal handling facilities in the foreground.

This huge coal seam, about 11 metres thick, occurs in Coal (Parenga) Creek near Seddonville, and was the site of one of the earliest coal mines.

The Ngakawau-Seddonville branch line was built solely for the transport of coal from mines near Seddonville to Westport harbour, where it was then transported around New Zealand by sea.