14 Oct 2021 OceanaGold WNP Project, Waihi - Archaeological / Heritage Assessment Information from Early Survey Plans and Aerials An examination of early survey maps and plans of the Project area identified both the Mataura Water Race and Willows Timber Tramway. As early as 1900 a plan of Section 2 Block XII Ohinemuri under the Mining District Land Occupation Act 1894 by Henry Alexander Fritch shows the ‘Waihi G. M Cos’ Water Race’ and intake dam on the Mataura Stream. A bend in the race is surveyed out of Section 2 and the plan refers to ‘. . access to firewood tram’ crossing Section 2 also (Figure 11). Detail from survey plan SO 18876 (Plan of Section 28 Block XII Ohinemuri Feb 1918) shows the ‘tramway’ follows the surveyed alignment of the unformed paper road on the eastern side of the Mataura Stream and the ‘Waihi G. M. Cos Water Race’ alignment surveyed on the western side of the stream from its dammed intake. Interestingly the area is described as ‘Partially felled’ and in ‘Fern and Blackberry’ by this time (Figure 12). The 1939 NZMS13 Topographic plan shows the surveyed corridor of the Mataura ‘Water Race’ from its source in the Mataura Stream to ‘Walmsley Stream, and then its continuation into Waihi as the Walmsley Water Race. It also shows the Willows ‘Tramway’ which predominantly follows the alignment of Willows Road reserve (Figure 13). Survey plan SO 33214 Plan of Sec 42 Blk XII Ohinemuri (May 1946) shows the unformed public road at the end of Te Kowhatu Road (now Willows Road), which corresponds to the alignment of the Willows Timber Tramway. It refers to an ‘Abandoned Formation,’ which likely relates to the tramway (Figure 14). Recent survey from 1976 illustrates that the corridor of the Mataura Water Race from its intake across Sections 70 & 71 of the Ohinemuri Survey District was still a separate title as ‘Crown Land Reserved from Sale Sec 58 Land Act 1948’ (Figure 15). From examination of early aerial photographs from 1942 the alignment of the Mataura Water Race is still visible on the ground from its intake on the Mataura Stream and across the proposed infrastructure site and surrounding area (Figure 16). The alignment of the Willows Tramway was not clearly visible but has been marked on the aerial based on other maps of the tramway alignment.
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