. HIKURANGI
The Story ofa Coal Mining Town.
-~by Madge Malcolm
This book tells about coal mining in Hikurangi from when the first mine was
opened in 1890 until the last mine, was closed in 1948.‘ Coal was discovered by Maori
gum diggers in 1863 but as coalwas being mined in Whangarei and Kamo not much
interest was taken in the Hikurangi find. - . ‘ _
Hikurangi in its heyday was a busy and prosperous town but with a different story
to tell when the two main mines flooded to time with the Depression of ‘the early 1930's.
Then times were very hard for most people.
The story of the mines is told by the minerspthemselves, in greatest detail by Joe
Isherwood. What he didn't know about the mines wasn't worth knowing.
Besides the big mines, Wilson's, and the Shaft, there were many smaller mines.
Cv.m.ningham's was a familytmine that produced coal for many years. The family made a
living but not a fortune. Altogether. there were 60 - 70 mines in Hikurangi.
I think the most endearing stories are of the mine horses. How they would race
each other to line up with the men, waiting for the cages to lift them to the surface. Then
there was the horse who would stand and not let the men pass until they had given him
something from their crib (lunch!)
Shirley Cole tells her story as the only teenage girl to work in a mine oflice. This
was during World War Two. , .
As well as mining the book records the first settlers. Donald McLeod who settled
there in 1863 and his adventures in getting stores and making his own furniture. Then the
large Carter family were prominent settlers and as the first mines were on their land, they
prospered. What is interesting are the extracts from Samuel Carter's diary that he kept in
the 1880's. V ,
There are the stories of the timber mills that preceded the mines. The first was
Matheson and Sissor 3, the second mill in the whole district, later taken over by George
Buchanan, and Vickeiy's large timber mill. Other mill owners were Robert Gibbons,
Christy's Mill, Rowland and McLeods Mill, and Smith's Mill. Besides these big mills were
many smaller ones.
Alf and Chrissie Goodhew tell of life in Hikurangi during the 1920's when they
were growing up and Harold Newby shares his memories of his boyhood during the
1930's. ’
There are many more stories and especially how sport played such an important
part in the lives of these people who mostly came originally from England, Scotland and-
Wales. *
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