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Our Place. The West Coast.
The West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand is bounded by the Tasman Sea to the west and the Southern Alps in the east. At no point in its 600 kilometre length is the region wider than 70 kilometres. Five of New Zealand’s National parks are situated here – Kahurangi, Paparoa, Arthur’s Pass, Westland, Mt Aspiring – as well as the South West New Zealand World Heritage Area.
The South Island's West Coast region is dominated by mountains, lakes, rivers, forests and rugged coastline. We get lots of rain, but we also get more sunshine than Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch. The Northern West Coast had one of the mildest climates in New Zealand.
Land tenure on the West Coast is overwhelmingly dominated by the State, with only 12% of land freehold. Much of the West Coast is in native forest.
The major influx of settlers arrived between 1864 and 1867, boosting the Coast population from 250 to 26000 in the three years of gold booms.
The discovery of coal bearing deposits during the same decade was to eventually lead to the establishment of a more stable and ongoing industry in coal mining. From 1867 the coal mining industry began in earnest, and by 1895 Denniston in the north had become the largest coal producer in this country. Substantial coal operations continue today, to contribute to the Northern West Coast economy.
Between 1880 and 1967, the Denniston Incline brought coal down from the Rochfort Plateau and the mines at Coalbrookdale, Wharatea and Iron Bridge. The Incline, with its steepest section at a gradient of 1 in 2.2 carried 15 wagons an hour (with a total capacity of 120 tons), to the railway at Conns Creek at the foot of the incline. In its time over 13 million tonnes of coal went down from the plateau to the ships at Westport. Fondly known by the locals as 'the eighth wonder of the world', the Incline was ingeniously engineered, based simply on gravity and logistics. Rising freight costs, among a number of other factors, saw the final closing of the Incline in 1967.
Reefton, originally Quartzopolis, and then Reeftown, was the first location in the Southern Hemisphere to have a public electricity supply system. It became operational in 1888, and the generation system finally gave way to better systems in 1948.
Other small towns in the Northern West Coast have come and gone over the years of high gold and coal productivity, but photographs, memories and relics of the era are still there, and are all part of the strong foundation on which the Northern West Coast is based.
A significant portion of the local economy is still underpinned by mining in the Grey District. This sector includes coal and gold as well as aggregate collection. New Zealand's only source of bituminous coal is from the West Coast. Gold mining in the district is purely alluvial recovery using small operations. Rock and gravel is a steadily growing sector with the product used for rail ballast, roading, construction and protection works. Decorative use and landscaping projects using our attractive beach pebbles are a future market.
adapted in part from www.westport.org.nz
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