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Garden Gully Battery,Croesus Track - used to crush gold-bearing quartz in Garden Gully.1930`s
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Description Garden Gully Battery, used to crush gold-bearing quartz in Garden Gully during the 1930s. Garden Gully was one of the gold mines along the Croesus Track, west of Blackball. The Garden Gully mine, like most gold mines, was short-lived. It was worked briefly during thew 1930 Depression. The battery was restored by the NZ Forest Service in the 1980s, when they built the new Cec Clarke Hut on the tops above this battery.
There is also a Garden Gully Gold Mine in Victoria, Australia. The second photos shows Croesus Knob as the bump on the distant skyline of the Paparoa Range, as seen from Croesus Track at The Coal Seam. My mates and I hunted deer and prospected here keenly during the 1960s and 70s. These photos were taken during a tramp in 2007.Date of Photo1930`sMap[1] ContributorGregory Ross
There is also a Garden Gully Gold Mine in Victoria, Australia. The second photos shows Croesus Knob as the bump on the distant skyline of the Paparoa Range, as seen from Croesus Track at The Coal Seam. My mates and I hunted deer and prospected here keenly during the 1960s and 70s. These photos were taken during a tramp in 2007.Date of Photo1930`sMap[1] ContributorGregory Ross
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Location (city or town)Croesus TrackBlackballLandmark (Place)Garden Gully BatteryOrganisation (eg business)Garden Gully Battery
Category Information
Category TagGoldmining
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Date Created8th March 2023CommentsAndy Bone
Love this spot.and hut... Shame cars get targeted at the car park
Mari Walsh
My father Les Nicol helped restore the that hut.. he shouted all of us a helicopter flight on xmas to see all the huts he had worked on.. including Lake Chrisobell.. Grant White was our pilot
Gregory Ross
Mari Walsh I think I met your dad while visiting the new Cec Clarke Hut in1986, and I chatted with the NZFS crew there who were putting the finishing touches to that new hut, and they were also restoring the old Top Hut beside the new hut, and also doing up Garden Gully Hut in the bush not far below those two huts.
Glenn Johnston
Hi Greg. Re the battery at Garden Gully. Whilst it may have been put back to work in the 1930's it was originally the Croesus battery which was shifted to Garden Gully in 1905 where it worked for a while before operations ceased. I've wandered around the mine sites in the head of Garden Gully (aka Dug Out Creek) and was somewhat surprised at how many adits come across. Most of them are at higher altitude above the creek than the one a walking track went to down near creek level back in NZFS days. Some of these drives likely date from later prospecting after the demise of the Garden Gully Goldmining Company. In 1906 ore was being extracted from three drives.
Gregory Ross
Glenn Johnston Thanks for the additional info Glenn. I knew it was worked early in the 1900s, but forgot to mention that in the above notes. In 1970 we climbed up not far behind the battery to an adit with wire ropes and various other bits of machinery around it. We were possum-poisoning there during winter 1970, but Garden Gully is frozen hard in winter as it gets no sun. I recall a very cold night in the hut, when we got no sleep, due to cold.
Glenn Johnston
This pic is outside one of the higher altitude Garden Gully adits which I think is on the the middle line of three lines of parallel reefs that have drives at differing levels on them attempting to intercept the reefs.Andy Bone
Love this spot.and hut... Shame cars get targeted at the car park
Mari Walsh
My father Les Nicol helped restore the that hut.. he shouted all of us a helicopter flight on xmas to see all the huts he had worked on.. including Lake Chrisobell.. Grant White was our pilot
Gregory Ross
Mari Walsh I think I met your dad while visiting the new Cec Clarke Hut in1986, and I chatted with the NZFS crew there who were putting the finishing touches to that new hut, and they were also restoring the old Top Hut beside the new hut, and also doing up Garden Gully Hut in the bush not far below those two huts.
Glenn Johnston
Hi Greg. Re the battery at Garden Gully. Whilst it may have been put back to work in the 1930's it was originally the Croesus battery which was shifted to Garden Gully in 1904 where it worked for a while before operations ceased in 1906. I've wandered around the mine sites in the head of Garden Gully and was somewhat surprised at how many adits come across. Most of them are at higher altitude above the creek than the one a walking track went to down near creek level back in NZFS days.
Gregory Ross
Glenn Johnston Thanks for the additional info Glenn. I knew it was worked early in the 1900s, but forgot to mention that in the above notes. In 1970 we climbed up not far behind the battery to an adit with wire ropes and various other bits of machinery around it. We were possum-poisoning there during winter 1970, but Garden Gully is frozen hard in winter as it gets no sun. I recall a very cold night in the hut, when we got no sleep, due to cold.
Glenn Johnston
This pic is outside one of the higher altitude Garden Gully adits which I think is on the the middle line of three lines of parallel reefs that have drives at differing levels on them attempting to intercept the reefs.
Glenn Johnston
Not Garden Gully but not far away when you and I did some adit hunting Gregory Ross. This photo is from over a decade ago on a several day trip we undertook looking for adits and former battery sites from the Croesus and Minerva mines. This is outside one of the several adits we came across on the Ten Mile Creek side of Croesus Knob. Your selfie style pic with me in the background was taken using my old Fuji camera.
Dennis Gibbs
Is that accessed from the Moonlight Valley? There is a Garden Valley there..
Glenn Johnston
Dennis Gibbs easiest access is off the Croesus track by taking a good side track off the Croesus track over a low saddle to the Roaring Meg and its Garden Gully tributary. However there was once a route off the Moonlight track that had some benching on the Moonlight side before following easy terrain to the ridge east of Garden Gully (see map) I've also walked from the main range down to Garden Gully (also see map) but it is doubtful if miners went that way unless coming from the Barrytown side of the Paparoas. The derelict battery site is shown on the map so is the old track which used to go to one of the adits. All the adits I came across were on the eastern side of the Gully east and upstream of the battery and they occurred from not far above the creek well up toward the top of the ridge.
Glenn Johnston
Dennis Gibbs note that Garden Gully and Garden Creek are different places though close to each other as the crow flies.
Love this spot.and hut... Shame cars get targeted at the car park
Mari Walsh
My father Les Nicol helped restore the that hut.. he shouted all of us a helicopter flight on xmas to see all the huts he had worked on.. including Lake Chrisobell.. Grant White was our pilot
Gregory Ross
Mari Walsh I think I met your dad while visiting the new Cec Clarke Hut in1986, and I chatted with the NZFS crew there who were putting the finishing touches to that new hut, and they were also restoring the old Top Hut beside the new hut, and also doing up Garden Gully Hut in the bush not far below those two huts.
Glenn Johnston
Hi Greg. Re the battery at Garden Gully. Whilst it may have been put back to work in the 1930's it was originally the Croesus battery which was shifted to Garden Gully in 1905 where it worked for a while before operations ceased. I've wandered around the mine sites in the head of Garden Gully (aka Dug Out Creek) and was somewhat surprised at how many adits come across. Most of them are at higher altitude above the creek than the one a walking track went to down near creek level back in NZFS days. Some of these drives likely date from later prospecting after the demise of the Garden Gully Goldmining Company. In 1906 ore was being extracted from three drives.
Gregory Ross
Glenn Johnston Thanks for the additional info Glenn. I knew it was worked early in the 1900s, but forgot to mention that in the above notes. In 1970 we climbed up not far behind the battery to an adit with wire ropes and various other bits of machinery around it. We were possum-poisoning there during winter 1970, but Garden Gully is frozen hard in winter as it gets no sun. I recall a very cold night in the hut, when we got no sleep, due to cold.
Glenn Johnston
This pic is outside one of the higher altitude Garden Gully adits which I think is on the the middle line of three lines of parallel reefs that have drives at differing levels on them attempting to intercept the reefs.Andy Bone
Love this spot.and hut... Shame cars get targeted at the car park
Mari Walsh
My father Les Nicol helped restore the that hut.. he shouted all of us a helicopter flight on xmas to see all the huts he had worked on.. including Lake Chrisobell.. Grant White was our pilot
Gregory Ross
Mari Walsh I think I met your dad while visiting the new Cec Clarke Hut in1986, and I chatted with the NZFS crew there who were putting the finishing touches to that new hut, and they were also restoring the old Top Hut beside the new hut, and also doing up Garden Gully Hut in the bush not far below those two huts.
Glenn Johnston
Hi Greg. Re the battery at Garden Gully. Whilst it may have been put back to work in the 1930's it was originally the Croesus battery which was shifted to Garden Gully in 1904 where it worked for a while before operations ceased in 1906. I've wandered around the mine sites in the head of Garden Gully and was somewhat surprised at how many adits come across. Most of them are at higher altitude above the creek than the one a walking track went to down near creek level back in NZFS days.
Gregory Ross
Glenn Johnston Thanks for the additional info Glenn. I knew it was worked early in the 1900s, but forgot to mention that in the above notes. In 1970 we climbed up not far behind the battery to an adit with wire ropes and various other bits of machinery around it. We were possum-poisoning there during winter 1970, but Garden Gully is frozen hard in winter as it gets no sun. I recall a very cold night in the hut, when we got no sleep, due to cold.
Glenn Johnston
This pic is outside one of the higher altitude Garden Gully adits which I think is on the the middle line of three lines of parallel reefs that have drives at differing levels on them attempting to intercept the reefs.
Glenn Johnston
Not Garden Gully but not far away when you and I did some adit hunting Gregory Ross. This photo is from over a decade ago on a several day trip we undertook looking for adits and former battery sites from the Croesus and Minerva mines. This is outside one of the several adits we came across on the Ten Mile Creek side of Croesus Knob. Your selfie style pic with me in the background was taken using my old Fuji camera.
Dennis Gibbs
Is that accessed from the Moonlight Valley? There is a Garden Valley there..
Glenn Johnston
Dennis Gibbs easiest access is off the Croesus track by taking a good side track off the Croesus track over a low saddle to the Roaring Meg and its Garden Gully tributary. However there was once a route off the Moonlight track that had some benching on the Moonlight side before following easy terrain to the ridge east of Garden Gully (see map) I've also walked from the main range down to Garden Gully (also see map) but it is doubtful if miners went that way unless coming from the Barrytown side of the Paparoas. The derelict battery site is shown on the map so is the old track which used to go to one of the adits. All the adits I came across were on the eastern side of the Gully east and upstream of the battery and they occurred from not far above the creek well up toward the top of the ridge.
Glenn Johnston
Dennis Gibbs note that Garden Gully and Garden Creek are different places though close to each other as the crow flies.
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West Coast New Zealand History (10th Mar 2023). Garden Gully Battery,Croesus Track - used to crush gold-bearing quartz in Garden Gully.1930`s. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 1st Apr 2026 17:06, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/32063