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By: jack devine30th Aug 2019 9:24AMthis is heard street dunollie. the rope road is now part of the road to the old mines office. the tunnel in the distance is behind jock devines place. the mine is further, past scottys house. the foundations for the building on the left are still in the bush, beside the mines office road. we found all the foundations when we lived at number 14 heard street growing up. the other photo is the original bins, just past dunollie railway station, where the spring creek mine is now..to the right of the bins, on the hill would be the mines offices that were still there when i was a kid in seventies the rope road in first photo ends at the bins in second photo

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Rewanui and also Dunollie bins.

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DescriptionCourtesy Lynnette Beirne and Ross Dawson of the Dunollie Hotel 2019 LtdPhotographer Unidentified photographerMap^[1]ContributorDunollie Hotel 2019 Ltd

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Location (city or town)RewanuiLandmark (Place)Rewanui inclineRewanui Coal binsDunollie bins

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Category TagCoal MiningRailwaysGhost town

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Date Created28th August 2019CommentsJennifer Noble I'm trying to place where this is and I think it looks like the bottom of the endless rope system from Middle Brake, the tunnel in the distance leads to the viaduct across to Middle Brake. This must b before the bins was built and the tall chimney was probably from the boiler that was still there in the 1980's. The boiler was beside the bins, is there a date ?

Vincent Knapp Not sure but it maybe Siberia the first mine I worked the boilers and man hauler at no 2 mine there in its final yrs then number 3 mine

Jennifer Noble No, not Siberia Vince, too open country for up there I reckon and too many buildings

Jennifer Noble There are houses and a hall so maybe it's going past the township between Middle Brake and Siberia, it's on the right side of the settlement and there is a small tunnel

Brett McLean Yes you are correct Jennifer Noble in this attached photo you can see the power house and large shed in the background to the right and middle brake on the left looking up the viaduct. I wondered where the top photo was taken from as it is elevated, the hill to the left is steep so it would have been taken from up there.

Jennifer Noble Brett McLean thanks Brett, it was probably taken from the track (wooden rails) higher up. The one that Johny Docherty and then Alan Hunter opened up.

Ken Campbell That’s not how I remember the middle break in the 60s. The coal come out of the mine across the viaduct to the weigh bridge in races of boxes. Then the boxes were unhooked went down the hill a bit and turned left and were attached to a different endless rope and sent down hill across a viaduct and into the tunnel to the bins. It was not a straight line like that picture shows

Brett McLean Kenny, I may be wrong but I think the top photo would have been taken in the very early development stages (circa 1912?) and shows the rope road from the No.1 mine up at Siberia down to the early middle brake, in Les Wright's book "Siberia to the Sea" on page 60 it shows a picture of the middle brake and he said that "this scene would change greatly over the years as No.2 mine became the centre of operations" so I presume this would be changed to what you can remember when you worked up their.

Jennifer Noble Ken Campbell your memory is quite right as to how Middle Brake was in the 60's but as Brett explained would be very different some 50 years earlier as in the top pic. The first mine was 1700ft above sea level and Middle Brake 1200, past Middle Brake there was a township.

Ken Campbell yes I have been up to Siberia there are still some old rail tracks running through the bush where the ground is washed away. The bush grows back so fast up there so maybe there was a line going back from the main winch house years before I worked there. If so it must have been on a very steep rise. I have the book Siberia to the sea Brent mention,I will have to dig it out to compare

Jennifer Noble Ken Campbell I was involved in compiling that book

Lawrence Boul I think the second photo in this album is mislabelled. Bins are not at Rewanui, but Dunollie.

Jennifer Noble Lawrence Boul to my knowledge there were never any bins at Dunollie and certainly no endless rope system

Lawrence Boul Jennifer Noble This is an album with two photos. The second does not have a ropeway (and neither did Dunollie as far as I know), and is the one I'm referring to. If you search 'Dunollie bins' on reco you'll see similar photos. The bins at Rewanui were different and the landform is also wrong.

Jennifer Noble Jennifer Noble this is the bins at the end of the endless rope system from Middle Brake. The return is above the bins and coal was delivered to the bins via a belt system driven from the blacksmith's workshops opposite, conveyors. Situated on the North of Seven Mile creek known as the backshunt

Lawrence Boul Jennifer Noble There were bins where you say, but I don't believe the photo shows them. The track layout is wrong and the land to the North is steep on the backshunt, but quite flat in the photo. I think the photo shows the Point Elizabeth State Mine bins in Dunollie. These are illustrated in Siberia to the sea and also in various other collections such as: Building and coal bins over railway line, Dunollie, West Coast. Ref: 1/4-055162-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/30628062

Jennifer Noble Lawrence Boul you are right that these are the Point Elizabeth State mine bins, but Dunollie never had large bins. I know this area intimately and was heavily involved in collecting and preserving the history of Rewanui and the writing of Siberia to the Sea. As stated in the book there were many changes over the years and much of that flat land was reclaimed (fill). Dunollie is used as a location mark only, the mining took place up a very narrow, very steep valley along the Seven Mile creek

Lawrence Boul If that is the case, then this photo from Reco (labelled Dunollie) is interesting as it features an F class loco with cowcatcher. If this is up the 7 mile then how did it get there?

Lawrence Boul This drawing which I believe is Dunollie (5m from Greymouth by rail) shows the Dunollie bins and the track layout is more consistent with the photos. It certainly isn't Rewanui.

Jennifer Noble The railway line to cart the coal as you see in the Q wagons ran from Greymouth to Dunollie and then up the very well known Rewanui Incline Initially, because of its steep grade there was a centre- rail braking system. All is talked about and photos of it in the book. The line was carved out of the hillside and included 2 tunnels. At the top, 5 miles up, was a station and a viaduct crossed the creek to the bins

Lawrence Boul This drawing (similar to the last is dated 1904) - Before the incline. Bins are clearly indicated and the track plan exactly matches that in the photo in the original album. I've spent a lot of time sudying the railway infrastructure there myself. The bins in the "Dunollie" bin photos do not match photos of the original State coal mine bins on the Rewanui backshunt.

Lawrence Boul This drawings shows the relationship of the Dunollie bins to Dunollie streets - which is a bit more helpful than the rail infrastructure which is long gone.

Jennifer Noble As I said I have no knowledge of bins at Dunollie, my interest was in Rewanui, I do remember the sidings there but not bins. There was a small mine above Herd st that could connect to them

Lawrence Boul Jennifer Noble No problem, but that photo is of the Dunollie bins, not the Rewanui ones. This was all very early. The Dunollie station was moved to the Rununga junction, the incline was built etc - since the drawings above were done.

Myron Caldwell You see these young kids still retain the "knowledge of home" Well spotted.

Myron Caldwell Jennifer Noble I know the feeling. It must have been the good Buller air that has kept me going into my 8th decade.

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Rewanui and also Dunollie bins.

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