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Contact us:
54 Kenny St Waihi P O Box 149 Waihi
Phone 0 7 863 8386 Fax 0 7 863 8428 Email wacma@waihimuseum.co.nz

Why would anybody deliberately chop off one of their thumbs?

Just one of the many displays you can view at the museum. Not all of them are as gruesome as this one.

Students up to Year 8 may like to try our Treasure Hunts below.

Try one of our two fact finding Treasure Hunts. If you are coming to visit use the Museum Treasure Hunt, or try the Internet Treasure Hunt. All of the answers for the Internet Treasure Hunt can be found on this site.

Early gold miners used the Imperial system of measurement, not the Metric system we use today. You may find these conversions helpful as you answer the questions below.

length: 1 mile is 1.6 kilometres. A yard is .91 metres. A foot is 30.5 centimetres
capacity: 1 gallon is 4.5 litres.

1. Who first discovered gold in Waihi, and in what year?

2. How did the miners travel from the surface to the rockfaces underground?

3. What two forms of lighting did the miners have underground?

i. C................................................ ii. C.................................. L ..................................

4. Name two forms of communication underground miners used to talk to the surface.

5. How was the quartz rock broken out of the rock faces?

6. Apart from manpower used to push the ore trucks underground, what other form of 'power' was used to pull them?

7. Before it became law that water had to be used with drills underground and when quartz was crushed, many miners lost their lives to a disease known as 'Miner's Phtisis'. (pronounced 'ty-siss) What caused this disease?

8. Once the quartz was mined it was brought to the surface:

i. Where did it go?

ii. How was it transported there?

iii. Why was it sent to this place?

9. Why do you think the Victoria Battery was built at Waikino?

10. How many shafts were there in the Martha Mine? How deep was the deepest?

11. The Martha Mine covered a surface area of nearly 1 mile long by half a mile wide, and extended about half a mile downwards. About how many miles of workings were there underground? (remember, a mile is about 1.6 kilometres)

12. How many levels were there in the Martha Mine? How far apart was each level?

13. In 1895 a new method of extracting gold from ore after it had been crushed was introduced to Waihi. What chemical process did this use?

14. Why did Waihi have such deep gutters in the Main Street during the mining days?

15. Apart from gold, what other precious metal was obtained from Waihi ore?

16. How many stampers were there at the Victoria Battery? How many kilograms did each one weigh?

17. What year was the pumphouse built? How many gallons per hour did the pump transport?

18. The first hydro-electric power station in New Zealand was built on the Waikato River by the Martha Gold Mining Company. The power was brought across the Kaimai Ranges on wires hung from metal pylons. (You can see one outside the museum.) Where was the power station built? In what year was it completed?

19. In 1912 something happened in Waihi which caused many of the miners and their families to leave town. What was it?

20. At one stage there were ten mining companies operating in Waihi. The Waihi Gold Mining Company (later to be renamed the Martha Gold Mining Company) was the biggest. What was the name of the second biggest gold mining company?

21. What was one 'accident' which happened to some miners so that they could get accident compensation?

1. What is the name given to rock which has gold or precious metal in it?

2.Which stamper battery in the Waihi area had the most stamps?

3. In what year did underground workings at the Martha Mine close down?

4. Which mining company was in operation for the longest time in the Waihi area?

5. In what year was the Miners' Strike?

6. After gold-bearing rock had gone through the jaw crusher what size was it?

7. How deep was No. 5 shaft?

8. Why was the stamper battery and treatment plant at No. 4 shaft abandoned?

9. In what year were the most men employed by the local gold mines?

10. What was used to crush gold-bearing rock in the tube mills before steel balls?

11. About how many people attended the funeral of Frederick Evans?

12. How long was slurry left in the leach tanks to dissolve the gold?

13. How many claims were registered in 1880?

14. What was the deepest level in the underground mines?

15. Look at the photograph of miners underground. What are they using for light?

16. Which mining company earned the most money during its life?

17. What were zinc shavings used for?

18. Why did some early miners cut off their thumbs?

19. How many layers of glass are used in the model of the underground workings?

20. About how many visitors does the Museum have each year?

Extras for Experts

1. Which mining company had the higher annual average production?
a. Cassells & Co. from 1893 to 1896 which produced £19,285 worth of gold
b. Martha Mining Co. which produced £17,320 worth of gold from 1882 to 1886

2. Using the figures provided, calculate the average (mean) life in years of a mining company in Waihi.

3. Look carefully at the two photographs featured in Then & Now. List as many differences as you can between underground mining at the end of the 19th century and underground mining at the end of the 20th century. Some differences have already been listed on the colour picture, but there are lots more.

You should also look at the aerial photographs of Waihi and Golden Cross to help with your answer.

If you need extra detail you should also look at The 1933 Mine Cage Accident and The Gold Miners Relief Fund which contain detailed information taken from newspapers of the time.

For lots more information about gold miniing check out the websites we have linked to on the Links page.