69 Oct 2021 OceanaGold WNP Project, Waihi - Archaeological / Heritage Assessment Value Historic Heritage Assessment Winner Hill throughout the early 1900s. Much prospecting however, bought little success. These sites are associated with the wider historical events, people and mining companies that form the rich history of gold mining in Waihi. Architectural Qualities There are no surviving mining buildings or structures at this site. The underground workings, where they survive, would be an example of the various methods of constructions for drives, adits, shafts etc. and their design was imported from England, which has an ancient metalmining tradition going back thousands of years. However, they are not ‘architectural’ in the strict sense of the term, which is usually applied to buildings or visible structures, rather than utilitarian tunnels underground. Technological/ Scientific Qualities Some of the big innovations and testing of new technology developed in the Waihi mining industry (see Thornton 1982), such as pioneering the use of electricity in gold mining, the development of the gold dredge, and tremendous impact on gold production brought about by the advances in the cyanide process of gold extraction, are better represented at other sites locally, such as Union Hill and Martha Hill. Archaeological Qualities These sites have potential to expand upon our knowledge of early mining activities through archaeological methods and meet the definition of an archaeological site for the pre-1900 underground workings. They are a representative example of a site type, feature or activity. They are not a Heritage NZ listed archaeological site, but have been recorded as an archaeological site. Cultural Qualities Given the long mining legacy and celebration of mining history within Waihi today (such as display and interpretation of the pumphouse, poppet replica head, pit rim walk, interpretation panels and sculptures in the town) it is likely that the community does have some association with the site. Given that this aspect of mining is not publicly accessible or visible, this perhaps will limit the value of the site in terms of being a physical marker/ source of identity. The Ohinemuri Low Level Water Race (T13/817) has not been scheduled for protection on the HDP. It is not listed by Heritage NZ in the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero. An assessment of the archaeological values of T13/820 and T13/821 based on the Heritage NZ criteria (Heritage NZ 2006: 9-10) and the heritage values of the RPS criteria are above in Table 8 and 9.
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