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welcome
Welcome to the Waikato Coalfields Museum – history at the COALFACE
Huntly is strategically placed at the centre of the Waikato Coalfields and mid way between Auckland and Hamilton. Since 1980 the Waikato Coalfields Museum has housed the district's coal mining collections.
These collections are displayed in an historic homestead dating from 1890 set within a scenic reserve. The homestead was originally built for William Tattley, mine manager at the Taupiri Coal Mine.
Inside, displays explore the lives of coal miners and their families who worked and lived in the Waikato Coalfields. Film footage introduces visitors to coal mining past and present, and original exhibits include mining machinery, equipment, personal items, and hundreds of photographs.
The Museum has a coal mining archive, library, collection of historic photographs, local history files, newspaper cuttings and a family history database. Available for viewing by prior appointment.

Opening Hours Open daily 10.00am - 4.00pm (7 days) Closed Good Friday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day Under 5 - free School children - $1 Adults - $3 Other times by appointment; groups welcome.

Location
download a map here The Museum is located just off State Highway 1, north of Huntly, 50 minutes from Auckland, and 40 minutes north of Hamilton. Follow signs from SH1.

Contact us
Waikato Coalfields Museum 26 Harlock Place, Huntly, New Zealand P. O. Box 275, Huntly Phone 07 828 8128 Fax 07 828 8120 E-mail

educational resource pack
The Waikato Coalfields Museum is a primary resource for Learning Opportunities in Social Sciences, Geography, Science and Technology, Levels 1 - 8 and Geography NCEA Levels 1 – 3. The Museum is located in the former Mine Managers’ house of the Taupiri Coal Mining Company and its collections provide a unique learning experience focusing on coal mining in New Zealand. The Museum provides primary resources such as artefacts and machinery, archives, oral histories, music, videos and an interactive computer program. In addition, field trips can be arranged through Solid Energy North to both an underground and open cast mine in Huntly.

free worksheets to download:
For your copy of the Educational Resource Pack - please phone 07 828 8128 or E-mail: If you would like further information on other aspects of the Waikato Coalfields and its mining communities please contact us.

Education Pack Contents
A pack containing the following resources is available to schools, colleges and other educational groups:
Rotowaro – Lake of Coal: Exhibition notes
Coal Tree Poster
Video Worksheet: Coal & the Environment (24 questions on the video part 1)
Video Worksheet: Lifestyles of a Mining Town (25 questions on the video part 2)
Video Worksheet: Work & Challenges of Mining people (16 questions on the video part 3)
Answers to all 3 Worksheets
Miner’ s Cottage Interior – 1940’s Kitchen (A3 B&W labelled photocopy of interior)
Miner’ s Cottage Interior – 1940’s Parlour (A3 B&W labelled photocopy of interior)
Miner’ s Cottage Interior – 1940’s Bedroom (A3 B&W labelled photocopy of interior)
A General Museum Work Sheet

interesting links
Further information on the history of the Waikato coalfields, coal mining and coal mining museums worldwide can be found at the following sites:
Huntly Town Website www.huntly.net.nz
North Waikato Tourism www.nwt.org.nz
Waikato District Council www.waidc.govt.nz
New Zealand Minerals Industry www.minerals.co.nz
Geological Society of New Zealand www.gsnz.org.nz
World Coal Institute www.wci-coal.com
Coal Mining History Resource Centre www.cmhrc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
Ministry of Economic Development, Crown Minerals www.med.govt.nz
Solid Energy www.coalnz.com
Genesis Power www.genesisenergy.co.nz
Big Pit Welsh Coal Mining Museum www.nmgw.ac.uk/bigpit
National Coal Mining Museum for England www.ncm.org.uk
Scottish Mining Museum www.scottishminingmuseum.com
Chicago Museum of Science & Industry www.msichicago.org

Huntly Rail Bridge

shopping
The sale of the following items helps to fund our museum: We do not have a secure shopping server at this stage so if you would like to purchase any of these items,  please email us stating what you wish to buy and your contact details and we will get in touch with you. Alternatively you could download this order form (PDF 28kb) to print, fill it out and post or fax it back to us.

WHEN COAL WAS KING researched and compiled by Gwyneth Jones
This book details the history of the coalmines of Pukemiro and Glen Afton, their townships and mine settlements. It is a remarkable collection of memories and photos of residents of this area. $45.00

EARLY COALMINING METHODS11.5 minute video
This video uses historic photographs and recreation to illustrate methods used in the early days of coalmining. Informative for those interested in the industry or a useful educational tool. $20.00

COAL - FUELLING THE FUTURE 3-part video lasting 44 minutes
This video (used at the museum daily) covers three subjects: ‘Coal and the Environment’, ‘Lifestyles of a Mining Town (Rotowaro)’ and ‘Work and Challenges of Mining People’. $25.00

MUSEUM T-SHIRT available in medium / large / xtra-large
Black T-shirt with the Waikato Coalfields Museum logo of an old style miner with pick and pail, printed in white and tan. $25.00

SET OF 4 HISTORIC HUNTLY POSTCARDS
A set of sepia photographic prints entitled: Horses Hauling Coal Huntly 1900, Huntly Hotel 1900, Ralph’s Mine Huntly 1890, and Huntly Main Street 1907. $2.00

ROTOWARO – The last days of a Waikato Township
David Cook’s photographic portrayal of the Rotowaro Township. $7.00

HUNTLY STREET NAMES
A fascinating account of the local and national personalities and stories that have given Huntly its street names. $5.00

new projects
MINER’S VOICES
An Oral History project focusing on the Waikato Coalfields.
Recording the memories of mine workers and their families. If you know of anyone with mining connections who would like to share their knowledge and experience with us please contact our Registrar to arrange an initial meeting.

Photographic Project
The Museum’s entire photographic collection is being digitised and catalogued giving easy access to the collection.

HUNTLY HERITAGE TRAIL
An exploration of the historic buildings and sites of Huntly.
These important buildings and sites reflect the town’s coal mining heritage, religions and businesses which are being fully researched and compiled in a trail brochure.

Where do you live?
Have you ever wondered about the meaning behind Huntly’s street names or the street in which you live? Huntly’s street names have now been fully researched and compiled in booklet form. Most of the names refer to local or national personalities.

Cemetery Trail
Many of Huntly’s pioneering, industrial, and coal mining personalities are explored in this cemetery project, which will soon be produced in booklet form. Many of these projects have been researched by Museum volunteers, if you would like to help research Huntly and District using the Museum’s varied collections please contact us.

new projects . special exhibitions . collections special exhibitions

A BRICK IN TIME A multi-media exploration of Huntly Brick. A BRICK IN TIME is staged in collaboration with WINTEC student Joshua Buxton who uses video footage, stills, voices and music to explore the fascinating world of the Huntly Brick works. This exhibition is aptly timed to commemorate 120 years of brick making in Huntly and 130 years of brick making in Japan by Shinagawa Refractories Ltd, current owner of the brickworks.

See how bricks are made and what they are made from, trace the history of brick making in Huntly since 1885, find out about the people who made these bricks and discover our many fine buildings made from HUNTLY BRICK.

support us
Become a Member
Membership to the Museum Society entitles you to free entry to the Museum, an invitation to exhibition openings and special events and you will also receive a regular member's newsletter keeping you informed of what is happening at the Museum and special events.

Memberships Rates Adult: $15.00 Senior citizen: $10.00 Family: $25.00 Business: $50.00
Please email the Museum with your details, or pop a cheque in the post to the Waikato Coalfields Museum, PO Box 275, Huntly, made payable to the Waikato Coalfields Museum.

make a donation
Make a donation to the Museum and the proposed new development. All donations over $500.00 for the new Museum project will be acknowledged within the new building. Contact Museum staff for further details on ph: 07 828 8128.

Waro – the new national coal museum The Waikato Coalfields Museum Committee is planning a new purpose built museum at Weavers Park, Huntly, which will tell the story of coal in New Zealand. Solid Energy offered the Museum Society the use of Weavers Park for the new Museum back in October 2002 and the Huntly Community Board, Community Services Committee and finally full Council approved the site in principal in August 2003. The Museum Society has commissioned Chow Hill Architects to draw up a concept plan of what a new museum complex could look like at Weaver’s Park and since then the Museum Committee has been liaising with Council, Solid Energy and other stakeholders on this concept. Our ideas and assumptions about the new museum were tested recently at a major workshop hosted by Solid Energy. The Museum Committee invited a wide range of significant stakeholders and senior museum development experts to discuss the project. This successful workshop was a reality check on the new museum development. Council has given approval for a staged new museum and committed money for Chow Hill Architects to re-scope Stage 1 of the project. The Museum Committee is committed to keeping the Museum collection in Huntly and agree that the most suitable site for the new Museum is at Weaver’s Park, a former open–cast mine site. Our cultural and heritage well-being is of prime importance to our nation, and museums can certainly play a major role in this, generating pride in our heritage and communities. We believe it is essential to preserve our coal mining history, stories and collections, not only for our benefit but for future generations to appreciate and enjoy. What better place to preserve this coalmining heritage than in Huntly, in the centre of the most productive coalfield in New Zealand. Our Museum collections are of national importance and celebrate this coalmining heritage, which is sadly so often neglected. Many people ask why we need a new museum, which is a very valid question. Basically we cannot look after these valuable and growing collections in our existing building. The current Museum is too small, lacks the essential environmental controls needed to preserve our collections and even lacks basic visitor facilities, such as toilets. One of the main reasons for building a new museum is the lack of space to display and store our existing collections. Some of our objects are big and heavy, including: 8 working steam engines from the Frankton Dairy Company. This company mined coal from their own mine at Glen Afton to power the steam engines. 2 buckets and pylons from the Meremere aerial ropeway, each over 8m tall. A personnel carrier used in Huntly’s East Mine up until last year to take miners underground to the coal face. Huntly’s railway station, an important piece of Huntly’s coal and transport heritage, saved by the Museum last year. These objects tell important stories and we would like to able to display them for you all to see them rather than keep them hidden away in off-site storage. Our collections are growing fast and we have been promised more pieces of mining machinery, equipment, photographs and archives once we have space to display them, another good reason for getting a bigger new museum soon.If you’d like to hear more about our exciting plans for the new museum give us a call on 07 828 8128 or drop in at the Museum.