Two West Coast Mining Towns

Catch-up

After our sobering and thoughtful visit to the Pike29 Memorial we carried on towards Greymouth, taking a side road to the old mining settlement of Blackball.

And although the streets around village's few shops and one of the pubs, were lined with vehicles, the streets were deserted of people. The only sign of occupancy were these two characters resting in the shade of an old cottage in the midst of a makeover. 

David dropped me off so I could take the necessary church photos and then drove around the block (the block nearly being the whole village) and pulled up outside the other pub in town and the one I wanted to check out- the 'famous in New Zealand', Blackball Hilton.....now known as the former Blackball Hilton because of a certain international hotel chain's pressure to change the name.

Next door I finally found a single person checking out the Blackball Museum of Working Class History including an exhibition of the 1908 miners strike, which at 10 weeks, is the longest strike in New Zealand. Blackball is also the birthplace of the New Zealand Labour Party.

The Blackball Hilton publican & his wife came out to front table to have a smoko break and we got talking. The town was empty of people but full of vehicles because of a very large funeral for a local identity which was happening at the other hotel in town. When he heard we'd just visited the memorial he said we'd have to come in and see the hotel's memorial to the Pike 29. The first thing he pointed out was the clock, it was fixed on the time of the blast.

He took great pains in pointing out that his wall was the first memorial to the Pike 29 and that the hotel was in fact where many of the families and rescuers stayed and met each day during the early attempts at rescue. There were also memorials and information on the other walls right through the hotel of other mine disasters and important events in the area's history. After thanking them for their hospitality, we continued our journey.

Our destination for the night, as previously mentioned was Jellyman Park near Greymouth. We'd set up camp and were relaxing in the warm late afternoon sun when I had a brainwave (David would say a brainfade)...it was a lovely evening and when I checked my tide app, I saw that sunset was at 8:09 and low tide was at 8:15pm. 

Perfect timing for another visit to the fabulous hidden coastline at Motukiekie, 15kms up the coast- low tide, rock formations, a West Coast sunset & hopefully the special orange starfish, that inhabit the rock pools at very low tide and which I'd failed to find on our previous visit (although we did manage to find a caveman). All that combined (not the caveman though) could make for an epic photo shoot.

I told David I'd be happy to go by myself, but I'd love him to come; as back up and to help me down the steep bank and ladder to the beach. Otherwise I'd have to walk in from a couple of kilometres away and I really didn't fancy finding my way back to the ute after dark. Of course how could he refuse!

We left a couple of hours before sunset, which was a little too early but we were ready to go, so we took a detour via Runanga, another old coal mining town on the West Coast. I wanted to take a photo of the historic 'Miners Hall' which is adorned with famous socialist slogans. British miners brought a strong tradition of industrial unionism to New Zealand, where it quickly established itself, especially on the West Coast.

This Historic Places Category 1 building will hopefully be restored eventually (click to enlarge)

Runanga is also very proud of their mining heritage, rugby league roots and their international players; this large display was on the side of one of the shops.

Unfortunately the Buffalo Butchery didn't stand the test of time. I remember when we were on the Coast many years ago and had a buffalo burger at a cafe out in the middle of nowhere somewhere near Punakaiki. The cafe was actually at a buffalo farm (these are water buffalo), poor things, watching their mates being turned into burgers. It too had disappeared when we travelled that area last year.

While I was taking photos David decided that we'd have 'Chicken 'n Chips' for dinner from the local (the one and only) shop. It was rather surreal eating dinner at a picnic table on a footpath in a deserted and slightly rundown town.

But the 'Chicken 'n Chips'  were very tasty (hey, anything's tasty when you don't have to cook dinner) and we did see a few locals, mainly young people coming in for their daily fix; a packet of fags.

We carried on up the coast and checked out Motukiekie from the beach where I was going to walk in from. Hmmm....the tide looked like it still had a way to go and the sun had disappeared behind a thick band of grey cloud. 

We drove back to our secret track and headed down to the beach, finding the ladder just as it was the last time. 

The rocks came into view at the last turn in the track....that tide still looks a little high and the waves are still rolling in. And the sun has definitely disappeared.  

We swung down the rope (middle right) onto the rocks at the base of the cliffs...

...and walked up the beach to the rock stacks where unfortunately the tide was just not going to go out far enough tonight. It still blocked the way around the last section and the starfish pools were still covered in water. Oh well, it was worth a shot but we decided it just wasn't going to happen tonight so headed off back to the rope.

I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and found this juvenile spotted shag trying desperately to blend into the rock-face behind him. He was actually warming himself in the sun that had finally appeared for a few brief moments...

...but he quickly decided he needed to find an escape route...

"If I tip-toe quietly this way, she won't notice me"

Meanwhile David had disappeared down the beach...

And while I was taking that shot, Master Shag made a quick escape.

As did we; back up the rocks, up the rope, the ladder and through the bush, back to the ute and home again...

...just in time to catch the sun setting!!

Pike 29 Memorial

Catch-up

I wanted to post this last Saturday, in time for the 6th anniversary of one of New Zealand's worst mining disasters, but unfortunately we had no internet connection on the day. 

At 3:44pm on the 19th November, 2010 an explosion happened deep within the Pike River Coal Mine located 46km north of Greymouth and where 31 men were working. Only two men came out alive, they were working in an access tunnel closer to the entrance than their workmates.

Emergency services and mines rescue crews worked around the clock for days, waiting for a 'window of opportunity' where gas levels were safe enough to enter and bring the 29 workers to safety. On November 24th, it was all over. A second explosion rocked the mine and any hope for the Pike 29, as they became known, was lost. Six years on, the Pike 29 remain entombed beneath the Paparoa Range.

We left Reefton heading for Greymouth turning off the main road just past Ikamatua to follow the Grey River down it's true right. The road is in excellent condition, with long straights, hardly any traffic and bordered by dairy farms for most of it's length. Along the way, I wanted to visit Blackball, a well known West Coast town. 

I hadn't realised the the Pike 29 Memorial was located near the road until I saw the sign. 

We found a place to turn around and returned to the memorial. We had a discussion about whether it was appropriate to visit the memorial, as the tragedy is still quite raw for many New Zealanders, and it did feel like we might be intruding. And especially as we had the 5th-wheeler on the back (I know, I know but if there had been others there, I know we would have carried on). But the sign on the gate made it clear that we were quite welcome, which helped.

And I'm glad we did stop and visit. This small corner of a dairy farm paddock-donated by a generous local family- has become a very special and sacred place for the Pike 29 families and friends, a place for quiet reflection and to remember their loved ones. 

A large rock strategically placed so you're overlooking the Paparoa Range while reading, holds the memorial to the men (click to enlarge the photos).

The Paparoa Range and Pike River Mine are 15kms further up the road beyond the rock. The mine portal is located in the range just to the left of the dying tree. The coal processing plant is to the right of the two large trees.

I have many photos of multi-sign posts from around the country but this one has to be the saddest one of all; the distance to each of the men's home towns.

The shelter held many poignant reminders of the tragic loss.

A tag board with the identification cards of the 29 miners- a system used to keep track of who is underground at any given time.

And photos of the men. Also in the shelter were a visitor's book (sad reading), diagrams of the mine workings and the blast, photos of the Memorial landscaping and wired to the floor, a rock from the mine blast.

A gate opened to plantings outside the memorial fence and a gravel path led the way down to a small stream. It's a pity there's a substation blotting the landscape behind the memorial but I'm sure once the plantings establish themselves is will be a minor inconvenience. The memorial area has been very well done, with individual memorials to each of the men around the outside of the white stone gravel koru.

Initially I wasn't going to upload the personal memorials here but I've decided I need to. I know that the families of the Pike 29 don't want people to forget their men and the pain and loss that they have suffered. Perhaps there are families or friends that can't visit the memorial, maybe seeing their man's memorial here will help them sometime in the future as they're searching for solace or a memory.

Each of these memorials is very personal; a heartbreaking glimpse into the lives and character of the men and the people they left behind, a moving reminder of the loss of so many healthy, happy and loved people. There is little doubt that the Pike 29 will forever be remembered by New Zealand.

THE MEN OF PIKE 

They came from near and far away 

The men of Pike to work that day 

The afternoon shift way down deep 

Beneath the mountains oh so steep 

A long way in but further out 

The afternoon shift sets about 

A job not flash but hard and trying 

A job that holds the risk of dying 

From seventeen to sixty two
They start their shift to see it through 

For one his first, for all their last 

How could they know there’d be a blast? 

For all at once no siren whining 

Suddenly the worst in mining 

Dust and rubble fill the air 

A loader driver thrown clear 

Just one other finds the light 

The rest are hidden from our sight 

And so we learn as news is spread
The news that mining families dread 

It’s up at Pike there’s an explosion 

Faces drop and hearts are frozen 

Who, how many, where and why ---- 

Will they make it ---- will they die 

Fathers, husbands, brothers, sons
Coasters, Kiwis, Aussies, Poms 

Mates and friends who we are seeking 

Methane gas from coal seams leaking 

Vents exploded, phones unheeded 

Level heads and strength are needed 

The world above unites as one 

To bring the missing to the sun

Rescue teams are standing by
As holes are drilled and experts try 

To find a way that’s safe and sound 

To rescue those beneath the ground 

Could robots work where men are mortal 

To pierce the dangers of that portal 

But alas all effort fails 

The darkness of the mine prevails 

A second blast of rock and thunder
Hope and prayers are rent asunder 

A nation weeps and Coasters mourn 

Pike falls silent, dark, forlorn 

A hole remains within the ground 

Devoid of joy, of life, of sound 

Another hole within the heart
Of those forever set apart 

From those they loved who went to toil 

Digging coal beneath the soil 

Those who gave their lives that day 

To work a shift for honest pay 

They wait at rest within their mine 

The men of Pike, the Twenty Nine

Sean Plunket

Lest we forget