Millerton township. Photo taken before the post office was built.

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DescriptionDespite its elevation of 300 m being considerably lower than that of Denniston (494 m), the grade between the coastline and Millerton still meant that the coal was difficult to get down to the railway. The Westport Coal Company built the Millerton Incline in 1891 and the Millerton Mine began production in 1896. Mining at Millerton ended in the late 1960s, similar again to Denniston.
The Millerton Incline was a narrow gauge (2 ft) incline consisting of two parallel tracks on which the coal tubs ran, being hauled by rope. Remnants of tracks, trucks, bath house and other installations are still visible. The Millerton Incline was in its day quite a feat of engineering and the remains of this incline and its infrastructure are more accessible then those of the more famous Denniston incline. The Millerton Incline was used to convey tubs of coal from the mines around the Millerton area to the Bins at Granity, which in their day were the largest coal loading bins of wooden construction in NZ. The Bins are long gone, but the incline remains and is well worth a look.

The Hon. William McIntyre from Millerton was a member of the Legislative Council from 1921 until he died in 1949, and was known as the Father of the Upper House. A miner from Scotland, he (with his brother) set a record for the coal mined in one shift at the Millerton Mine.
Photo from "Price Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library".Date of PhotoNo dateMap^[1]External LinkPhoto sourceContributorHeather Newby

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Location (city or town)Millerton

Category Information

Category TagCoal Mining

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Millerton township. Photo taken before the post office was built.

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