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Thames 1871(37k)
Thames 1911(36k) |
Thames
township, or "The Thames" as it was often referred to, based at the foot of the
Firth of Thames has been established for around 125 years by the pakeha although there had
been Maori pa sites dating back well before the 1820's.
In 1820, missionary Samuel Marsden arrived on the H.M.S. Coromandel, establishing the
first European settlement in the Thames Valley a few miles up river at Puriri, until the
mosquitoes and the swamp drove the missionaries up to Thames only four years later. The
era from 1868 to 1871 were the bonanza years for the town with gold production topping one
million pounds sterling at its peak. Official figures for production of the Thames Mines
recorded a yield of 2,327,619oz bullion with the value at $845 million.
The first major discovery was made on August 10, 1867 by a prospector, William Hunt, in a
waterfall in the bed of the Kuranui Stream. This mine produced over 102,353oz bullion and
was known as the Shotover.
The richest bonanza of the fields were the Manukau-Golden Crown-Caledonian mines but many
others yielded near equivalent amounts
Towards the end of the last century Thames was the largest centre of population in New
Zealand with 18,000 inhabitants and well over 100 hotels and three theatres. The
population today stands at approximately 7,000 and now has only four hotels in the town
centre.
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