Waikato Coalfields Museum
- Location: 26 Harlock Place, Huntly. Follow the signs off State Highway One, north of Huntly Main Street.
- Opening hours: Open daily 10.00am to 4.00pm (closed Good Friday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day). The museum is open at other times by appointment and schools and groups are welcome.
- Contact: Phone 07 828 8128, Fax 07 828 8120, email waikatocoalmuseum@paradise.net.nz
Or visit www.coal.net.nz
Dig into history at your friendly mining and cultural museum
Only 10 minutes walk from Huntly Main Street, the Waikato Coalfields Museum, is housed in an historic homestead and set within a scenic reserve, close to Lake Hakanoa. The museum building dates from 1890 and was originally used as the local mine manager’s house. Since 1980, the building has housed the district’s coal mining collection.
Exciting displays explore the lives of miners and their families who worked and lived in the Waikato Coalfields District. A video introduces visitors to coal mining and exhibits include a reconstructed mine tunnel, mining equipment and machinery, and displays about the Ralph and Glen Afton mining disasters. The lives of people from the area are portrayed through a series of room settings. There are also displays on school life, recreation and costume, all enhanced by hundreds of photographs.
The museum also has a mining archive, a collection of historic photographs, local history files and newspaper cuttings, and a family history database, available for viewing by appointment.