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Castle Point Mine, Dunollie , or Rewanui - ALBUM -
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DescriptionPhoto 1: is of the rope walk and power house of the lower pit of No 1. State Mine. The timber is used in the workings.
Photo 2: is a remoter view of the same showing a few of the houses of Dunollie. Just over the hill in the distance are the Coal Creek falls.
Photo 3: is a photograph of a slicing and punching machine with the foreman and myself. These three were taken on the same day and the others on another day when I took a party up to see the new mine at Rewanui in the hills.
Photo 4:is the party waiting near Dunollie on the Public works tracks on which they travelled up the first three miles. The grade is very steep and the line is for a great part blown out of the side of precipitous cliffs. Trini [?] is in the photograph which was taken by the wife of the overseer.
Photo 5: is the new binn as far as the line goes. The coal is brought to the binn through about a mile and a half of tunnels. We walked up around the track and came back the tunnel way. I am not going to describe the scenery. It is wonderfully broken and grand.
Photo 6: is a bush store half way up. Everything is packed from here the man with me is the proprietor who insisted in putting his coat on. There is a very fine outlook from here.
Photo 7:shows a pipe of compressed air slung over a gully.
Photo 8: shows the bush boarding house where we had lunch. It is a bleak[?] desolate place with a lot of snow[?]. The pack-man I am talking to D[?] O’Neil is a prominent anti militarist here.
Photo 9: shows some of the outside works at the top.”
I found these photos in an envelope with a letter written on 30.5.13 by my grandfather, Charles Dobson, to his cousin Millie Dobson in the Marlborough Museum Archives Dobson Collection, Blenheim @marlboroughmuseum
In his letter, Charlie Dobson says the photos “were taken by Trini[?] Vickerman when she was down here.” He numbered the photos on the back with brief descriptions of each one. I’ve put a [?] where I am not sure of a word or name in his text. I’d love to know who “Trini[?] Vickerman” and “D[?] O’Neil” were and look forward to any feedback on the photos.
Briefly, my grandfather was Rev C J H Dobson (1886-1930), born Westport, educated Greymouth High School until end 1901, Marlborough High School 1902-06. He was curate at St Thomas’s in Runanga 1910-13, after which he took on the Marlborough Sounds for about a year before going to war as a military chaplain. Millie (1879) was the youngest child of his grandfather’s brother, Alfred Dobson (1824-1887).
Map[1] ContributorJoanna Hyslop
Photo 2: is a remoter view of the same showing a few of the houses of Dunollie. Just over the hill in the distance are the Coal Creek falls.
Photo 3: is a photograph of a slicing and punching machine with the foreman and myself. These three were taken on the same day and the others on another day when I took a party up to see the new mine at Rewanui in the hills.
Photo 4:is the party waiting near Dunollie on the Public works tracks on which they travelled up the first three miles. The grade is very steep and the line is for a great part blown out of the side of precipitous cliffs. Trini [?] is in the photograph which was taken by the wife of the overseer.
Photo 5: is the new binn as far as the line goes. The coal is brought to the binn through about a mile and a half of tunnels. We walked up around the track and came back the tunnel way. I am not going to describe the scenery. It is wonderfully broken and grand.
Photo 6: is a bush store half way up. Everything is packed from here the man with me is the proprietor who insisted in putting his coat on. There is a very fine outlook from here.
Photo 7:shows a pipe of compressed air slung over a gully.
Photo 8: shows the bush boarding house where we had lunch. It is a bleak[?] desolate place with a lot of snow[?]. The pack-man I am talking to D[?] O’Neil is a prominent anti militarist here.
Photo 9: shows some of the outside works at the top.”
I found these photos in an envelope with a letter written on 30.5.13 by my grandfather, Charles Dobson, to his cousin Millie Dobson in the Marlborough Museum Archives Dobson Collection, Blenheim @marlboroughmuseum
In his letter, Charlie Dobson says the photos “were taken by Trini[?] Vickerman when she was down here.” He numbered the photos on the back with brief descriptions of each one. I’ve put a [?] where I am not sure of a word or name in his text. I’d love to know who “Trini[?] Vickerman” and “D[?] O’Neil” were and look forward to any feedback on the photos.
Briefly, my grandfather was Rev C J H Dobson (1886-1930), born Westport, educated Greymouth High School until end 1901, Marlborough High School 1902-06. He was curate at St Thomas’s in Runanga 1910-13, after which he took on the Marlborough Sounds for about a year before going to war as a military chaplain. Millie (1879) was the youngest child of his grandfather’s brother, Alfred Dobson (1824-1887).
Map[1] ContributorJoanna Hyslop
Shown in this image
Location (city or town)DunollieRewanuiLandmark (Place)Castle Point Mine, Dunollie
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CommentsLyn N Moe
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The top picture is in front of the Castle Point mine Dunollie, the brick works were also over the bank there.
Lyn N Moe
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Castle point the mine is directly under the rock, Baddeleys is just upstream.
Lyn N Moe
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I just realized the Castle point mine never opened until 1927. The photo is taken a couple of hundred yards from the Point Elizabeth bins and looks like it could be putting the rail to Rewanui, with the big beams they are sitting on.
Peter Kerr
Trini Vickerman could be a wife? There are two Vickermans in Furkett and a third was a partner in Lancaster and Vickerman. Consulting Engineers. Whose dates and locations fit?
Joanna Hyslop
Peter Kerr In his description of the photos, Charlie Dobson says: 'They were taken by Trini[?] Vickerman when she was down here.' I'm thinking she may have come down on a visit from Nelson or Auckland where there seem to have been more Vickermans. Or maybe she was visiting 'down' from Greymouth? But wouldn't it be 'up' from Greymouth? I'm wondering what her full name was - Katrina? Katriona? ...?
Joanna Hyslop
There was an Ethel and a Beatrice Vickerman around Nelson at this time. Likely that the various Vickermans in Auckland, Nelson, Greymouth were parts of the same family.
Peter Armstrong
Joanna Hyslop There was an Arthur Vickerman in Greymouth at about the time your Grandfather was in Runanga. He was a shipping agent and brother of a ships captain who used to call regularly at Greymouth also. They were both son's of an early settler in… See More
Mary Moffitt
Joanna Hyslop Just been reading about an attitude of British people about directions. English people always went UP to London no matter whether they lived North, South, East, or West. (Don’t know if they still do.) So, if the place was bigger than your… See More
Joanna Hyslop
Peter Armstrong thanks. I've come across Arthur Vickerman in the annual reports for Trinity church. I hadn't realized he was also the shipping agent. It's good to have that clarified and the brother captain. Another Mr Vickerman was involved with the w… See More
Joanna Hyslop
Mary Moffitt yes, there's still a bit of that and I've always tended to say going 'up to London', even when I was living in Scotland. I was thinking of it being going from north down to south as in Liverpool to Southampton or Auckland or Nelson to Runanga. Does that work in NZ too? Maybe if she was related to the Vickerman at Otira she would have come down from there?
Mary Moffitt
Joanna Hyslop I have not paid much attention lately, but I remember wondering if people did not know which way they were going. Now, upon consideration, after reading an English text about it, I think that I had just been unaware of a custom of going up to a central place and down from it to home.
‘Vickerman’ seems familiar, but at the moment I cannot recall why.
Heather Newby
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Author
Joanna Hyslop short form of Trinity
Mary Moffitt
Peter Kerr And Trinidad. Must be the abbreviation for a girl’s name.
Peter Armstrong
Joanna Hyslop Been reading quite a bit about Dr F L Vickerman's family in Nelson found a site dedicated to him and his descendants but could find no Trinity or similar.
Peter Armstrong
Joanna Hyslop There was another Vickerman another brother same family . Charles Ranken Vickerman. Charles had a son Hugh Vickerman born 20th December 1881 in Whangarei, he became an engineer like his father and in 1905 he's living in Otira and working for the Public Works Dept. If I'd read on I would have seen that yes he worked on the Midland line and the Otira Tunnel
Peter Armstrong
Peter Kerr yes the Hugh Vickerman I mention was a partner in Vickerman Lancaster.
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The top picture is in front of the Castle Point mine Dunollie, the brick works were also over the bank there.
Lyn N Moe
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Castle point the mine is directly under the rock, Baddeleys is just upstream.
Lyn N Moe
badge icon
I just realized the Castle point mine never opened until 1927. The photo is taken a couple of hundred yards from the Point Elizabeth bins and looks like it could be putting the rail to Rewanui, with the big beams they are sitting on.
Peter Kerr
Trini Vickerman could be a wife? There are two Vickermans in Furkett and a third was a partner in Lancaster and Vickerman. Consulting Engineers. Whose dates and locations fit?
Joanna Hyslop
Peter Kerr In his description of the photos, Charlie Dobson says: 'They were taken by Trini[?] Vickerman when she was down here.' I'm thinking she may have come down on a visit from Nelson or Auckland where there seem to have been more Vickermans. Or maybe she was visiting 'down' from Greymouth? But wouldn't it be 'up' from Greymouth? I'm wondering what her full name was - Katrina? Katriona? ...?
Joanna Hyslop
There was an Ethel and a Beatrice Vickerman around Nelson at this time. Likely that the various Vickermans in Auckland, Nelson, Greymouth were parts of the same family.
Peter Armstrong
Joanna Hyslop There was an Arthur Vickerman in Greymouth at about the time your Grandfather was in Runanga. He was a shipping agent and brother of a ships captain who used to call regularly at Greymouth also. They were both son's of an early settler in… See More
Mary Moffitt
Joanna Hyslop Just been reading about an attitude of British people about directions. English people always went UP to London no matter whether they lived North, South, East, or West. (Don’t know if they still do.) So, if the place was bigger than your… See More
Joanna Hyslop
Peter Armstrong thanks. I've come across Arthur Vickerman in the annual reports for Trinity church. I hadn't realized he was also the shipping agent. It's good to have that clarified and the brother captain. Another Mr Vickerman was involved with the w… See More
Joanna Hyslop
Mary Moffitt yes, there's still a bit of that and I've always tended to say going 'up to London', even when I was living in Scotland. I was thinking of it being going from north down to south as in Liverpool to Southampton or Auckland or Nelson to Runanga. Does that work in NZ too? Maybe if she was related to the Vickerman at Otira she would have come down from there?
Mary Moffitt
Joanna Hyslop I have not paid much attention lately, but I remember wondering if people did not know which way they were going. Now, upon consideration, after reading an English text about it, I think that I had just been unaware of a custom of going up to a central place and down from it to home.
‘Vickerman’ seems familiar, but at the moment I cannot recall why.
Heather Newby
badge icon
Author
Joanna Hyslop short form of Trinity
Mary Moffitt
Peter Kerr And Trinidad. Must be the abbreviation for a girl’s name.
Peter Armstrong
Joanna Hyslop Been reading quite a bit about Dr F L Vickerman's family in Nelson found a site dedicated to him and his descendants but could find no Trinity or similar.
Peter Armstrong
Joanna Hyslop There was another Vickerman another brother same family . Charles Ranken Vickerman. Charles had a son Hugh Vickerman born 20th December 1881 in Whangarei, he became an engineer like his father and in 1905 he's living in Otira and working for the Public Works Dept. If I'd read on I would have seen that yes he worked on the Midland line and the Otira Tunnel
Peter Armstrong
Peter Kerr yes the Hugh Vickerman I mention was a partner in Vickerman Lancaster.
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West Coast New Zealand History (1st Feb 2021). Castle Point Mine, Dunollie , or Rewanui - ALBUM -. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 12th Apr 2026 00:53, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/28926