Wangapeka...

………………………………..Valley, NZ


Courthouse Flat in the Wangapeka Valley was our destination on this glorious autumn day - one day earlier than planned.


The weather was kind and the water level at the Dart Ford was low enough for us to navigate safely. The road was gravel and narrow, the scenery pretty.

Courthouse Flat, once the site of a township, is now a place of walking tracks that reveal relics from a gold mining era.
It is known as Courthouse Flat as a pile of stones from the base of the Courthouse building is now the only visible remnant of the Gladstone township.

Men were prospecting here as early as 1859, but the discovery of a quartz reef in Blue Creek in 1869 triggered a rush and the township sprang up on the flats at the end of the road we travelled today. 
No significant finds were ever made in this generally unprofitable goldfield.

- The Wangapeka was proclaimed a goldfield in February 1870. 
- The township of Gladstone was short lived. It peaked in its first year when the population neared 250 people. 
- Within two years most of the miners had gone.

PHOTOS
The main photo shows the Dart Ford.
First extra is the same ford photographed from down river

Collage 1 in extra
Top left - access gate to the Wangapeka Valley. 
Top right - Courthouse Flat
Bottom left - walking bridge across Blue Creek
Bottom right - track information. Distance and times to be doubled for a return walk.

Collage 2 in extra
Several gold mining relics.