9 Oct 2021 OceanaGold WNP Project, Waihi - Archaeological / Heritage Assessment diameter, and will give about 70lbs of pressure to the square inch, the fall being about 140 feet. After passing through two Pelton wheels the water will be carried into the present race and again utilised as motive power.’ Willows Timber Tramway (part of the Waihi Gold Mining Co. Timber Tramway) As part of this assessment the Willows Timber Tramway has been recorded as T13/962 in the NZAA site record file (Figure 7, Figure 10 and Figure 10). Tramways were a convenient and economic solution to the problem of moving heavy materials, and a multitude of tramways ran across Waihi township and the surrounding areas. Horses were the early motive power, even when the rakeline (rail) from the Victoria Battery was commissioned and locomotives used, ore and wood were still hauled to the Waihi Battery by horse. In the early mining days, timber was used for building and supports for the drives underground and was also burnt for roasting quartz at the new Battery kilns. This destroyed the sulphur content and when cool the quartz was crushed to powder. The demand for timber was insatiable but the densely clad hills north and east of the Waihi township provided a valuable source. Boilers were almost exclusively wood fired until the Paeroa to Waikino portion of the railway to Waihi was completed in 1904. Coal could then be cheaply railed to Waikino, and then sent from the Victoria Battery via the rakeline. Firewood came from the Walmsley and Mataura Valleys via horse drawn tram lines along the Waihi Co. Tramway. Two of the earlier settlers who extracted timber were the Walmsley brothers, Horatio and Sheriff, who leased a block of Crown land at the end of what is now known as Walmsley Road. A tramline was constructed from the Waihi Co. battery at Union Hill to the end of the lease approximately 3 miles long, now the watershed for the Borough water supply. By 1896 the bushland was well cleared and grassland was developing well below the Walmsley Water race. About 1901 the Waihi Co. secured another bush block on the opposite side of the range and built a side tram line to the Walmsley Valley Waihi Co. Tramway to Willows Road (Wharry Road) – the new contractors being Cambie and W. Cornes. This was the Willows Timber Tram (Robinson Oct 1969; Armour Oct 1968). It was 5.298km in length. High Level Walmsley Timber Tramway As part of this assessment the High-Level Walmsley Timber Tramway has been recorded as T13/963 in the NZAA site record file (Figure 7 and Figure 10). Located north of Reservoir Road and upper Walmsley Road this tramway was also constructed by the Waihi Gold Company for the Martha Mine to extract timber from the Walmsley and Mataura Valleys. It connected with another tramway on Reservoir Road north of Waihi by an incline. With a series of off shoots it was 6.745km long and is likely to date to a similar time as the Willows Timber Tramway.
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