In a previous Post, Maps as a Resource: New Zealand’s “Maps Past”, Part One, I introduced the website “Maps Past” and discussed the first four of the following nine maps from that website relating to the Waikaka District. This Post discusses the last five maps, in the context of local and family history.
Note that the following map images are not expandable – use the thumbnail above for a more detailed view of any of the maps. The fifth map is for the decade ending in 1979. The “Maps Past” website indicates this is based on the NZMS1 topographic series “Heriot” Sheet published in 1974:
The Waikaka Branch Railway closed in 1962. On this map, the “Old railway formation” is noted, although only the last couple of miles of it. Uniquely among the maps examined here, included are the names of a number of local farms, including “The Mains”. Usually these names go back to the 1870s and 1880s when the large pastoral runs were broken up for farms, and often refer back to a place or district in the “Home Country”, especially Scotland, of the new owner. “Turnbulls Road” is now “Turnbull Road”. Note that the road running north-south on the east bank of the East Branch of the Waikaka Stream is called “East Waikaka Road”. This later changes too. [The term “East Branch” is near the top of the map, just to the east of the town name “Waikaka”.]
The sixth map is for the decade ending in 1989. The “Maps Past” website indicates this is based on the NZMS260 1:50000 topographic series “Gore” Sheet published in 1981 (maps three, four and five had the pre-metric scale of 1:63360):
The road running north-south on the east bank of the East Branch of the Waikaka Stream is now called “Gardyne Road” after families who farm in this area. A “Rubbish Dump” now appears in the middle of “The Mains”, an arrangement made for locals for a number of years. The dump was located quite close to Shepherd’s Creek (which is not named on the map), a stream historically important for gold recovery, including near Waikaka town and even further upstream. It was dammed near Waikaka in 1870 and fed the “Great Waikaka Water Race”. “The whole race was about nine miles long [14.5 kms], two feet deep and four feet wide [0.6 and 1.2 metres]…[It] included seven flumes, the shortest one being five chains [100 metres] and the longest 57 chains [1150 metres]” (D. McKenzie, “Early Waikaka”, pages 43-47 of “Records of the Gore and Surrounding Districts’ Early Settlers’ Association” 1927). These flumes were in effect aqueducts on trestles, some of them a number of metres high off the ground where gullies were crossed. Near the start of the race, a couple of tunnels had been dug to allow further water to be fed in from the Waikaka River to the northwest of the town. In “Waikaka Saga” (1962), Evans contends that the 57 chains is an exaggeration for the length of the longest flume but he otherwise confirms the extent of the enterprise. He records that in 1876 an extremely strong northwest gale brought down the flume near Waikaka, bringing the water race to an end (page 11). About one to two miles of The Great Waikaka Water Race ran through “The Mains”, where the lowest of the labels “Great Waikaka Water Race” is placed on the sketch map below. This would have been not far east of the Rubbish Dump of the 1970s and 1980s shown on the sixth map.
The seventh map is for the decade ending in 2009. This is based on the Topo50 1:50000 topographic series “Black Umbrella” Sheet (CE12) published in 2009:
I purchased a paper copy of this map last week from the Hamilton Map and Chart Shop, to assist me with the local and family research I am doing. The “Rubbish Dump” on the previous map is now labelled as “Landfill”. There are no longer any indications on the map of the gold dredging days – just a few scattered unlabelled ponds. There is also no longer any remnants of the old railway line.
The eighth map is designated “Topo50 latest” on the Maps Past website:
This map appears at a slightly greater scale, covering slightly less than the previous ones though I did not change the zoom setting. It seems to be more up-to-date than the seventh map, as it includes at the bottom in the centre a large dredge pond. This pond is located only 100 metres from the southeast boundary of “The Mains”. It was created between October 2001 and June 2002 by the L&M Mining Ltd Waikaka Alluvial Gold Mining Project. This Project proposed to “re-mine late-Tertiary and early-Pleistocene Gore Piedmont alluvial gravels” for alluvial gold in the Waikaka River flood plain. The aim was to mine outwash gravels lying beneath historical gold dredge tailings. A dredge removed much of the overburden on the site but the Project ended prematurely due to economic considerations. The source of this information is a paper by C. Ross, G. Hogan, M. Ryan, D. Manhire and S. Whitely, 2003, “Restoring the Site: L&M Mining Limited Waikaka Alluvial Gold Mining Project, Southland”. This was published in “Opportunities for the New Zealand Mining and Metals Industry: Prceedings AUSIMM NZ Branch 36th Annual Conference, Greymouth”. AUSIMM is the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, and this paper can be purchased online here.
The ninth map is designated “Air Photo latest” on the Maps Past website:
I couldn’t find the date of the air photo but the L&M Project’s large dredge pond is obvious at the centre bottom of the photo so it is at least post-2002. Some of the equipment from the recent dredge operation is still there, and it can be clearly seen at the top left of the pond when you zoom in on the air photo.
The black X at the top left of the above image marks the spot on the road from where I took the following photo on 1 November 2017:
Air photos from the past are especially interesting to historical researchers and it is a pity that the Maps Past website makes available only the most recent air photos. Google Maps is an easy way to access the same up-to-date material.
CONCLUSION
Maps Past is an outstanding resource for researchers and interested people. Maps on any part of New Zealand at any scale can easily be accessed online. Another Post sets out Tips on Using “Maps Past” to assist you if you are not sure what to do to get started in using the website.
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