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DREDGE AT TARAMAKAU.1981.
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DescriptionI remember living just down the road from the Lake Kaniere turn off. I just remembered looking at this and it being huge. Don't often hear much history about it or how they got it there but the program GOLD RUSH has dredges just like this one. Wonder how much gold they got out of there.Map[1] ContributorGaye Bagust
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Location (city or town)TARAMAKAUOrganisation (eg business)DREDGE AT TARAMAKAU.1981.
Category Information
Category TagGoldmining
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Date Created15th June 2023CommentsComments
Phil Olson
There was no dredge at Lake Kaniere. The kaniere gold dredge operated at Kaniere township and was no longer in operation in 1981 having been shifted to Taramakau river. It operated in that river near Kumara township under the name Kaniere Gold until it finished I think early 80's. Looking at photo I would say the location is Taramakau river.
Geoffrey King
Phil Olson Correct Phil. Some people take political license to change our history and it is just not on! People should research before they post
Peter Moore
Phil Olson Yep dead right
Dennis Gibbs
Noisy when operating.
Phil Olson
Just interesting to note in photo that dredge buckets are quite rusty indicating it has not been working some time plus both pivot spuds, the 2 big pole like objects hanging from rear superstructure are fully raised.
These were pointed like a pencil and lowered 1 at time into ground. The dredge would pivot left and right on that spud while digging and slowly lowering bucket line. When they needed to move ahead they would swing in direction of lowered spud, drop the other , raise 1 and dredge would walk forward. This was quite visible in the pattern of tailings left behind after dredging. The last dredge that still sits in Grey river unused never used pivot spuds but had winches on all corners to hold and maneuver dredge. I think the photo shown is after it finished in Taramakau prior to being dismantled.
Bob Homewood
Phil Olson Good Observation
Kerry Kerr
Phil Olson thanks for that Phil , some great information:)
Simon Hugh Rae
Phil Olson Thank you for that! My father, Duncan Rae, worked on the construction of the Kanieri and the Ngahere (near Blackball) dredges and worked on the latter as electrician. I was sometimes taken to work (before 'health & safety') but never worked out how the dredge moved itself. Thanks for that info.
Brian Molloy
Sure it wasn’t the Kaniere dredge? That was in the Taramakau River. There was no Gold dredge or gold at Lake Kaniere that I am aware of.
Kerry Molloy
Brian Molloy out the back of Kaniere township in the vicinity of blue spur.Worked with a bloke who actually recovered some good greenstone from the old tailings.
Bill Garth
Kerry Molloythe tailings are still evident
Brian Molloy
Kerry Molloy that’s not bloody Lake Kaniere. Lake Kaniere is ten minutes away. Blue Spur and Rimu around Kaniere Township sure but not Lake Kaniere.
Kerry Molloy
reread the original script .tis the author who refers to it as the Lake kaniere dredge . Ive never known it as that even when i worked up the hill so the fault is not mine.
Liz Hay
The Kaniere dredge operated in its iwn dredge pond, just up the road from where I lived, before you arrived at the township. The dredge was moved to Teremakau in the 50s; it took a year to dismantle and move it. I moved away in 1961. There were no colour photos till later in the 70s, so this photo could not have been taken at Kaniere.
Reply7h
John Cassidy
When the dredge was in Taramakau, river it used the spuds to hold the dredge in place and winches to pull it across the river ,i had to take the jetboat up one saturday because it had broken a winch rope that when across the river and river was in flood and they could not work the dredge. I think when moved to Ngahere they used four winches one on each corner
Robbie Deans
I believe they had this dredge feature on PARKERS TRAIL on discovery a few years ago.
Graeme Peters
Robbie Deans not this dredge just some parts of it
Robbie Deans
Graeme Peters ok thanks for this, I wasn’t aware there was more than one dredge!
Helen Hutchison
In the 50s the Kaniere Dredge operated at the back of Bill Hutchison’s Home . About opposite the turn of to Kokatai road . Not at Lake Kaniere . Definatly behind the homesteads of Kaniere townships homes
Tony Johnson
Helen Hutchison behind the west roads yards I think
Sheri Lee
Was quite a sight...is there still a meccano model in Hokitika
Ash Franklyn
From 1938 to 1953 she processed 175,000 ounces of gold..
Value today? $540,000,000 Nz..
Patricia Brown
Hi everyone. A great read. My grandfather and father worked the dredges in Barrytown and Murchison, also Waikaia. They also lived at Ngahere. My father Tom Gillooly jnr was the dredge master on the Mataki dredge at Murchison and my grandfather, Tom snr, was dredge master on the Barrytown dredge. NOT Whites electric, the actual Barrytown dredge. My brothers went to school there and my grandfather used to weigh etc the gold. My brothers talk of packing the bars into boxes. If anyone has information re the Gillooly family working these dredges, I would love to hear from you. Cheers.
Mary Moffitt
Interesting to read. During recent research I found much to read about an early New Zealand engineer - Leslie Hunter Reynolds 1862-1947. He worked all over the country, including Westland, and designed numerous dredges. The tailings preserved in Central were probably the result of a dredge designed by him.
I am curious to know if the dredges themselves bear the names of their designers/builders etc. Generally they seem to bear the names of their locations?
There is a great deal about him on ‘Papers Past’
Phil Olson
There was no dredge at Lake Kaniere. The kaniere gold dredge operated at Kaniere township and was no longer in operation in 1981 having been shifted to Taramakau river. It operated in that river near Kumara township under the name Kaniere Gold until it finished I think early 80's. Looking at photo I would say the location is Taramakau river.
Geoffrey King
Phil Olson Correct Phil. Some people take political license to change our history and it is just not on! People should research before they post
Peter Moore
Phil Olson Yep dead right
Dennis Gibbs
Noisy when operating.
Phil Olson
Just interesting to note in photo that dredge buckets are quite rusty indicating it has not been working some time plus both pivot spuds, the 2 big pole like objects hanging from rear superstructure are fully raised.
These were pointed like a pencil and lowered 1 at time into ground. The dredge would pivot left and right on that spud while digging and slowly lowering bucket line. When they needed to move ahead they would swing in direction of lowered spud, drop the other , raise 1 and dredge would walk forward. This was quite visible in the pattern of tailings left behind after dredging. The last dredge that still sits in Grey river unused never used pivot spuds but had winches on all corners to hold and maneuver dredge. I think the photo shown is after it finished in Taramakau prior to being dismantled.
Bob Homewood
Phil Olson Good Observation
Kerry Kerr
Phil Olson thanks for that Phil , some great information:)
Simon Hugh Rae
Phil Olson Thank you for that! My father, Duncan Rae, worked on the construction of the Kanieri and the Ngahere (near Blackball) dredges and worked on the latter as electrician. I was sometimes taken to work (before 'health & safety') but never worked out how the dredge moved itself. Thanks for that info.
Brian Molloy
Sure it wasn’t the Kaniere dredge? That was in the Taramakau River. There was no Gold dredge or gold at Lake Kaniere that I am aware of.
Kerry Molloy
Brian Molloy out the back of Kaniere township in the vicinity of blue spur.Worked with a bloke who actually recovered some good greenstone from the old tailings.
Bill Garth
Kerry Molloythe tailings are still evident
Brian Molloy
Kerry Molloy that’s not bloody Lake Kaniere. Lake Kaniere is ten minutes away. Blue Spur and Rimu around Kaniere Township sure but not Lake Kaniere.
Kerry Molloy
reread the original script .tis the author who refers to it as the Lake kaniere dredge . Ive never known it as that even when i worked up the hill so the fault is not mine.
Liz Hay
The Kaniere dredge operated in its iwn dredge pond, just up the road from where I lived, before you arrived at the township. The dredge was moved to Teremakau in the 50s; it took a year to dismantle and move it. I moved away in 1961. There were no colour photos till later in the 70s, so this photo could not have been taken at Kaniere.
Reply7h
John Cassidy
When the dredge was in Taramakau, river it used the spuds to hold the dredge in place and winches to pull it across the river ,i had to take the jetboat up one saturday because it had broken a winch rope that when across the river and river was in flood and they could not work the dredge. I think when moved to Ngahere they used four winches one on each corner
Robbie Deans
I believe they had this dredge feature on PARKERS TRAIL on discovery a few years ago.
Graeme Peters
Robbie Deans not this dredge just some parts of it
Robbie Deans
Graeme Peters ok thanks for this, I wasn’t aware there was more than one dredge!
Helen Hutchison
In the 50s the Kaniere Dredge operated at the back of Bill Hutchison’s Home . About opposite the turn of to Kokatai road . Not at Lake Kaniere . Definatly behind the homesteads of Kaniere townships homes
Tony Johnson
Helen Hutchison behind the west roads yards I think
Sheri Lee
Was quite a sight...is there still a meccano model in Hokitika
Ash Franklyn
From 1938 to 1953 she processed 175,000 ounces of gold..
Value today? $540,000,000 Nz..
Patricia Brown
Hi everyone. A great read. My grandfather and father worked the dredges in Barrytown and Murchison, also Waikaia. They also lived at Ngahere. My father Tom Gillooly jnr was the dredge master on the Mataki dredge at Murchison and my grandfather, Tom snr, was dredge master on the Barrytown dredge. NOT Whites electric, the actual Barrytown dredge. My brothers went to school there and my grandfather used to weigh etc the gold. My brothers talk of packing the bars into boxes. If anyone has information re the Gillooly family working these dredges, I would love to hear from you. Cheers.
Mary Moffitt
Interesting to read. During recent research I found much to read about an early New Zealand engineer - Leslie Hunter Reynolds 1862-1947. He worked all over the country, including Westland, and designed numerous dredges. The tailings preserved in Central were probably the result of a dredge designed by him.
I am curious to know if the dredges themselves bear the names of their designers/builders etc. Generally they seem to bear the names of their locations?
There is a great deal about him on ‘Papers Past’
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West Coast New Zealand History (16th Jun 2023). DREDGE AT TARAMAKAU.1981.. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 31st Mar 2026 16:24, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/32407