It is little known that Wainuiomata has a history of gold exploration and prospecting.
Although timber milling and agriculture were Wainuiomata’s principal early industries, historical records reveal repeated attempts to find gold in and around the valley during the nineteenth century.
These were not simply rumours passed between hopeful prospectors. Quartz from Wainuiomata was examined by leading geologists, samples were found to contain gold, shafts were sunk, prospectors searched the surrounding ranges and, in 1869, a registered gold mining company was established specifically to operate in the Wainuiomata district.
Despite all of this activity, Wainuiomata never became a goldfield.
Hugh Sinclair and Grace — 1869
One of the earliest well-documented episodes in Wainuiomata’s gold-prospecting history occurred in May 1869, when Hugh Sinclair and a man named Grace discovered what they believed was the source reef of quartz specimens that had previously been collected from the bed of a Wainuiomata stream.
Some of those earlier specimens had been sent to the Colonial Museum for analysis, with one producing notable traces of gold. The discovery was significant enough to attract the attention of Dr James Hector, one of New Zealand’s leading scientists and geologists, who visited Wainuiomata on 22 May 1869.
The reef was described as blue quartz containing mundic, an old term commonly used for iron pyrites. Where exposed to the weather, the quartz had broken down into a rusty material that appeared promising. Importantly, the reef was found protruding from a hillside, suggesting it formed part of the underlying rock rather than being a loose piece of quartz carried there from elsewhere.
If samples from the reef proved to contain gold, Hector reportedly intended to recommend that a drive be excavated to investigate the formation more thoroughly.
Gold confirmed in Wainuiomata quartz
The investigation soon produced evidence that gold really was present in Wainuiomata rock.
At a meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society in June 1869, it was reported that pyritous stone from the Wainuiomata Valley had proved auriferous, meaning that it contained gold. The amount was considered small, but it was sufficient to encourage further prospecting.
This is an important distinction in Wainuiomata’s gold history. Gold was not simply rumoured to exist somewhere in the surrounding hills. Samples of Wainuiomata quartz were actually analysed and found to contain it.
A shaft sunk towards the reef
By July 1869, prospecting had progressed beyond simply collecting samples from the surface.
Reports stated that prospectors were attempting to reach the reef by sinking a shaft on the eastern side of the formation. Because of the angle at which the reef descended underground, they estimated that the shaft would need to reach a depth of approximately 50 feet, or about 15 metres, before intersecting it.
Progress was temporarily slowed by severe winter weather, with several feet of snow reported on parts of the surrounding hills.
Whether any trace of this shaft survives today remains unknown.
Sinclair’s reef in upper Wainuiomata
Later geological records provide a valuable clue to the location of the workings.
In a paper published by the Wellington Philosophical Society, J. C. Crawford referred to a reef on Sinclair’s ground in the upper part of Wainuiomata. A later report placed the reef more specifically near George Creek, assuming it is the same reef being referenced.
Crawford considered the reef part of a broader geological line extending through the region towards the Ōrongorongo Valley and Remutaka Range.
Reports concerning Sinclair’s discoveries gave varying assay results, with quartz reportedly producing between 2½ and 14 pennyweights of gold per ton.
Several years later, Hector recalled that eighteen quartz specimens from reefs around Wellington had been analysed during the 1869 prospecting activity. Only six contained gold, and the richest produced approximately 13 pennyweights per ton. Hector specifically stated that this specimen came from Wainuiomata.
Thirteen pennyweights is approximately 0.65 troy ounces, or a little over 20 grams of gold per tonne of rock.
This did not prove that the reef could be mined profitably, but it did confirm that Sinclair and Grace were not simply following a rumour. At least some of the quartz they discovered genuinely contained gold.
George Bennett and the Perseverance Gold Mining Company — 1869
Only a few months after the discovery of gold-bearing quartz in Wainuiomata, the prospecting effort became more organised.
On 22 August 1869, George Bennett of Wellington applied to register the Perseverance Gold Mining Company (Registered).
The company’s purpose was clear. Its registered place of intended operations was the Wainuiomata district in the Province of Wellington.
The company had a nominal capital of £800, divided into 80 shares valued at £10 each, with £44 10s already paid up. Bennett, whose occupation was recorded as a turner, was the manager, while the company’s office was in Old Custom House Street in Wellington at the premises of Charles Seagar.
Among the shareholders were George Bennett, Charles Seagar, Thomas Ralph, Patrick Alphonsus Buckley and, significantly, Hugh Sinclair of Wainuiomata.
Sinclair’s involvement provides a strong link between the company and the gold discoveries made earlier that year.
It therefore seems likely that the Perseverance Gold Mining Company was formed in response to the 1869 discoveries and the growing belief that a workable gold-bearing reef might exist in Wainuiomata.
What remains uncertain is whether the shaft being sunk towards the reef earlier that winter was operated by Bennett’s company. The shaft was already being reported before the company was formally registered, so it may have begun as an earlier prospecting venture that later became associated with the Perseverance company.
The connection is compelling, but the surviving records do not yet prove that the company itself carried out the underground workings.
It is worth noting that George Creek was not named after George Bennett, despite Bennett’s involvement in the 1869 gold venture. The creek’s name predates any proven connection with Bennett and comes from an early Wainuiomata settler named George Wood.
Cooper — 1879
Interest in Wainuiomata’s gold potential resurfaced in February 1879, when a prospector named Cooper received permission to search for gold on private property in the district.
Cooper was reportedly well known in the South Island for his success in prospecting. He spent two days examining the Wainuiomata area before returning encouraged by what he had seen.
He believed that gold was present in the range separating the Hutt and Wainuiomata valleys and collected stone that he intended to have crushed and tested.
The renewed interest did not appear to come entirely out of nowhere. A later newspaper report noted that rumours of gold discoveries in the same range had already been circulating during the previous year.
The correspondent went so far as to suggest that the Government or Chamber of Commerce should provide assistance to prospectors willing to investigate the mineral potential of the district.
Cooper’s activities marked the beginning of another period of gold prospecting around Wainuiomata, with several other prospectors making claims during 1879.
Mr Moore — 1879
Only a short time after Cooper’s prospecting expedition, another claim of gold in Wainuiomata emerged.
In March 1879, the alleged discovery of gold in the Wainuiomata Valley came before the Hutt County Council. A letter from a prospector named Mr Moore stated that he could identify payable reefs in the valley.
Moore’s proposal came with an unusual condition. He wanted the gold duty collected from any mining operations resulting from his discovery to be paid to him for fifteen years.
The Hutt County Council agreed to honour the arrangement for the remainder of its own term of office, but declined to commit future councils to the same agreement.
Further reports concerning Moore appeared during April 1879, suggesting that his claims continued to attract interest for at least a short time.
Whether Moore ever revealed the exact location of the reefs he claimed were commercially worthwhile remains uncertain, and no substantial gold-mining operation followed his proposal.
George Knight — 1879
Another intriguing gold report emerged in June 1879, when George Knight, the manager of a property at Lowry Bay, arrived in Wellington carrying what newspapers described as excellent specimens of both alluvial gold and gold-bearing quartz.
Knight was described as an experienced gold miner and claimed to have discovered the specimens somewhere inland from Lowry Bay and Pencarrow Head, in country near the Wainuiomata Valley between the Hutt and Wairarapa ranges.
He considered the geological formation to be strikingly similar to known gold-bearing districts such as Collingwood and was evidently confident enough in the discovery to attract further interest.
Knight, however, declined to reveal the exact location of the find.
A party of miners was subsequently sent out to prospect the surrounding country, with Knight reportedly optimistic about their prospects.
Whether Knight’s discovery was actually within Wainuiomata itself, or somewhere in the neighbouring ranges, remains uncertain. No major mining operation appears to have followed, but the episode shows that interest in the wider Wainuiomata district’s gold potential remained strong throughout 1879.
Mr Spencer — 1883
Wainuiomata’s gold story resurfaced again in 1883, when a surveyor named Mr Spencer reportedly discovered another quartz reef in the district.
The stone was described as white quartz containing grey seams that appeared to consist of auriferous arsenical iron pyrites, indicating the presence of gold-bearing minerals.
A small quantity of the quartz was crushed and reportedly produced gold at the rate of 1 ounce and 9 grains per ton.
Spencer was said to have obtained a lease over the ground and intended to establish a company to develop the discovery.
On paper, the assay result was promising. One ounce and 9 grains per ton equates to a little over 31 grams of gold per tonne of rock.
As with the earlier discoveries, however, a favourable result from a small sample did not necessarily mean that the reef contained enough gold, over a large enough area, to support a profitable mining operation.
No substantial gold mine followed Spencer’s discovery, but his find shows that prospectors were still actively investigating Wainuiomata’s gold potential more than a decade after the discoveries of 1869.
Henry Savage — 1901
More than a decade after the earlier Wainuiomata discoveries, prospecting continued in the wider district.
In 1901, Henry Savage guided a small party into Gollans Valley to inspect a quartz reef he had previously discovered. The expedition was later described in detail in the New Zealand Mail of 11 December 1901.
The party travelled from Muritai towards Pencarrow before entering Gollans Valley. Along the way they examined an outcrop of quartz mixed with sandstone and slate. Some of the quartz was heavily stained with oxidised iron, and the party believed they could see sulphurets within it.
They then continued further into the valley and climbed towards a higher ridge where Savage believed another reef was located. After searching the steep slopes, Savage eventually located it on a high spur overlooking Gollans Valley.
What they found was particularly significant.
Someone had already sunk a winze approximately 10 feet deep into the reef many years earlier. By 1901, a tree fern was growing from the bottom of the excavation, indicating that the workings were already old.
The reef was described as approximately three feet thick, lying between sandstone and slate and running roughly north to south with a westerly dip. Quartz taken from within the winze was bluish and contained streaks resembling arsenical pyrites and sulphurets.
The party broke out samples for further examination, while Savage carried a quantity of loose material down to a nearby stream and washed it. No visible gold was recovered from the washing, but the men remained optimistic about the reef’s potential.
The writer of the newspaper account considered the formation sufficiently promising to conclude that the Gollans Valley area was worthy of further prospecting.
The episode is particularly intriguing because the 10-foot winze was already old in 1901. This suggests that prospectors had been working in Gollans Valley well before Savage’s expedition, although the identity of whoever originally excavated it remains unknown.
The precise location of Savage’s reef and the old winze has since been lost, leaving another unresolved piece of Wainuiomata’s gold-prospecting history.
The mystery that remains
More than 150 years later, the greatest mystery is no longer whether gold existed in Wainuiomata.
It did.
The unanswered question is where, exactly, the prospectors worked.
Historical records place Sinclair’s reef in the upper part of Wainuiomata, later described as being near George Creek. Somewhere in this area, prospectors also began sinking a shaft towards a reef that they expected to intercept at a depth of about 50 feet.
What became of those workings is unknown.
The shaft may have been abandoned before reaching the reef, filled in after prospecting ended, or later obscured by farming, forestry, waterworks construction and the gradual return of bush.
The same uncertainty surrounds many of the later discoveries. Moore claimed to know the location of payable reefs, Knight deliberately kept the site of his discovery secret, and Spencer reportedly obtained a lease over the ground containing his reef.
Yet today, the precise locations of many of these places have been lost.
It is possible that physical evidence of Wainuiomata’s nineteenth-century gold prospecting still survives somewhere in the surrounding valleys and hills: an old shaft, a cutting, disturbed ground or other traces hidden beneath more than a century of vegetation.
For now, the surviving newspaper reports, geological records and company documents provide only fragments of the story.
But they leave an intriguing possibility: somewhere in the Wainuiomata hills may still be evidence of the prospectors who searched these ranges for gold more than 150 years ago.
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