Denniston, New Zealand

Denniston
Denniston is located in New Zealand
Denniston
Denniston
Coordinates: 41°43′53″S 171°47′22″E / 41.73139°S 171.78944°E / -41.73139; 171.78944
CountryNew Zealand
RegionWest Coast
DistrictBuller District
ElectoratesWest Coast-Tasman
Te Tai Tonga

Denniston is a small settlement, 15 kilometres (9 miles) east of Westport, on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is situated on the Denniston Plateau, 600 metres (2,000 ft) above sea level in the Papahaua Ranges.

It is named for R. B. Denniston, manager of the first major mine to open on the West Coast in the 1870s.[1] During the first few decades of the 20th century, up to 1400 people[2] lived in the townships on the Denniston Plateau to service the large coal mines there. Coal was transported in railway wagons from the plateau via the Denniston Incline to Conns Creek, where steam locomotives of New Zealand Railways took coal trains to the port of Westport.[3]

The Denniston Incline closed in 1967. The plateau now has a population of fewer than 10 people, and virtually all the buildings and structures are gone, although many historical relics remain – scattered throughout the plateau and incline area amongst the scrub vegetation.

The open-cast Escarpment Mine Project was established by Bathurst Resources in an area of 200 hectares of conservation land on the southern Denniston Plateau. Mining commenced in 2014, but was suspended in 2016 in response to the closure in June of the Holcim cement works at Cape Foulwind and a decline in global prices for hard coking coal.[4]

  1. ^ "Denniston | NZHistory, New Zealand history online". nzhistory.govt.nz. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  2. ^ "Coal Mining on the Denniston Plateau 1882–2010" (PDF). New Zealand Department of Conservation. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  3. ^ Prebble, Bill (2008). Denniston's Incline: Coal from the Clouds. New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society Incorporated. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-908573-84-4.
  4. ^ Hartley, Simon (15 March 2016). "Bathurst suspends mining operations at Denniston". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 23 June 2022.