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AddBy: Hamish macdonald10th Mar 2023 9:53AMI live in Walter Shaw's old place i was born breed in blackball till I was ten now I'm back raising my children here and I! Proud to be staying in Walters old place Faversham I'm going for the mayor position of Faversham lol
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Blackball
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DescriptionBlackball is a small town on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand, approximately 29 km from Greymouth.
Blackball was named after the Black Ball Shipping Line, which leased land in the area to mine for coal. It was formerly known as Joliffetown and Moonlight Gully.
Blackball is a centre of New Zealand radicalism and workers' militancy. It was the birthplace of the New Zealand Labour Party, which followed the 1908 miners 'cribtime' strike, at ten weeks the longest in New Zealand history.
In the 1913 Great Strike, Blackball miners were the last to return to work, in 1914. During the strike they had picketed miners in nearby Brunner and had burnt down the secretary of the 'arbitration' (scab) union's home.
In 1925 the headquarters of the Communist Party of New Zealand moved to Blackball from Wellington.
The pit was closed in 1964.
The Blackball Museum of Working Class History opened in the town on 1 May 2010, in order to "celebrate the role working people have played in creating the infrastructure and wealth of a nation, [and] the part working people have played in creating society".
The 'Formerly the Blackball Hilton' was founded in 1910 as the Dominion Hotel, renaming itself after the mine manager, after whom the town's main street is also named. It was forced to change its name after objections from the international hotel chain of the same name.
The current population is 330.
Pic:
Damer Farrell Collection at National Library
Former owner Jane Wells
Blackball was named after the Black Ball Shipping Line, which leased land in the area to mine for coal. It was formerly known as Joliffetown and Moonlight Gully.
Blackball is a centre of New Zealand radicalism and workers' militancy. It was the birthplace of the New Zealand Labour Party, which followed the 1908 miners 'cribtime' strike, at ten weeks the longest in New Zealand history.
In the 1913 Great Strike, Blackball miners were the last to return to work, in 1914. During the strike they had picketed miners in nearby Brunner and had burnt down the secretary of the 'arbitration' (scab) union's home.
In 1925 the headquarters of the Communist Party of New Zealand moved to Blackball from Wellington.
The pit was closed in 1964.
The Blackball Museum of Working Class History opened in the town on 1 May 2010, in order to "celebrate the role working people have played in creating the infrastructure and wealth of a nation, [and] the part working people have played in creating society".
The 'Formerly the Blackball Hilton' was founded in 1910 as the Dominion Hotel, renaming itself after the mine manager, after whom the town's main street is also named. It was forced to change its name after objections from the international hotel chain of the same name.
The current population is 330.
Pic:
Damer Farrell Collection at National Library
Former owner Jane Wells
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West Coast New Zealand History (28th Nov 2015). Blackball. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 9th Apr 2026 21:29, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/11524