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Remains of Wainihinihi greenstone mine

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DescriptionJim Staton... This claim was run by a couple of Germans, they filled old boilers with greenstone and shipped them back to Germany under the guise of repairing the boilers over there (notwithstanding there was Dispatch Foundry close by), some of the best greenstone jewelery around was fashioned in Germany! They had two steam trucks that were landed on the Greymouth wharf in bits and built up there then steamed up and driven to the WainiHi hi and up to the cutting site where they cut up slabs of mainly serpentine and talc that were lowered 1000 feet down the fault escarpment into Lynch Creek, there was a bridge across this creek to where the mud saws worked. One needs to be careful if exploring the site as the aerial ropeway counter weight shaft is big, and open. The operation stopped with the Germans being interned at the start of the first world War.

Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19130731-48-5

PhotographerW R FarmerDate of Photo1913Map^[1]ContributorGav Schist

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Location (city or town)Wainihinihi

Category Information

Category TagMining

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CommentsJim Staton This claim was run by a couple of Germans, they filled old boilers with greenstone and shipped them back to Germany under the guise of repairing the boilers over there (notwithstanding there was Dispatch Foundry close by), some of the best greenstone jewelery around was fashioned in Germany! They had two steam trucks that were landed on the Greymouth wharf in bits and built up there then steamed up and driven to the WainiHi hi and up to the cutting site where they cut up slabs of mainly serpentine and talc that were lowered 1000 feet down the fault escarpment into Lynch Creek, there was a bridge across this creek to where the mud saws worked. One needs to be careful if exploring the site as the aerial ropeway counter weight shaft is big, and open. The operation stopped with the Germans being interned at the start of the first world War.

Allan Archer Television;s "border patrol " has nothing like that story Jim !

Laura Mills Detlaff Thank you Jim Staton amazing yarn!

Johannes Debreuk Germans!

Maree Lawlor Tennant's jewellers used to export jade to Germany

Chris Bennett
Lots of that pounamu ended up in sydney,or at least the last cpl of shipments...the good pounamu was used as u boat propshaft bearings as it never seized and cld handle temps of over 800°C...

Danny Breeze
Neat photos there Gav Schist
Reply13h
Gav Schist
Danny BreezeCheers brother Dan Schist took some too

Danny Breeze
Gav Schist love all that old history, I did see some of another adventure you guys had, great photos

Ōtira
10 years before the Ōtira tunnel was opened ...

Dennis Gibbs
Karma will get them.

Dennis Gibbs
Dennis Thompson It happens. The guys who stole pounamu from the Arahura river ended up dying in a helicopter crash.

Chris Bensemann
Dennis Gibbs there was no medieval Indian mystical theory back then

Tony Kelly
Yes the Germans were a major factor in the popularisation of Pounamu. According to the Ngai tahu chiefs of the mid 1800s greenstone wasn't worn. It was used as tools keepsakes but not worn. The early Germans traded it and sent it to the Rhine Valley where they had the techniques to mass produce smaller intricate designs. Katherine Mansfield played a part in popularising it also. By the time of Goldies paintings the use of nephrite for tools had waned becuse of steel. It was by this stage common cultural practice for people to wear greenstone.

Brendon Cameron
SOME OF IT WAS USED AS BALL BEARINGS FOR THERE U BOATS IN WW2 WHEN THEY RAN SHORT OF HARD STEEL

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Remains of Wainihinihi greenstone mine

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