Historic photos of old West Coast settlement uncovered in Australia
Photographs offering a new glimpse into life over 100 years ago in the coalmining town of Denniston – renowned for its harsh conditions – have been unearthed across the ditch.
Friends of the Hill Society has worked to preserve Denniston’s heritage and make the famous spot – 25km from Westport – a tourist destination.
Chairperson Gary James said it was “like Christmas” when the old photographs were posted on the society’s Facebook page recently.
Made famous by the Jenny Pattrick novel Denniston Rose, Denniston was known for its harsh conditions and weather. Founded in 1871, the town had more than 1500 people, a school, sports club, RSA and a couple of pubs at its peak. For decades, Denniston was New Zealand’s largest producing coal mine, with the coal being carried down first by pack horse and then by an a self-activating rail incline lauded as an engineering feat in 1880.
Robert Watson, of Newcastle in Australia, said the stunning old photographs appeared on a Facebook group he administers.
“I looked at them and thought I didn’t have a hope in hell of working out who those people are. They are amazing photos – anything from glass negatives are a rarity and I was struck by the detail.”
The photos featured a baby, people in turn-of-the-century clothing, young children, a man posing with large cabbages, the opening of the town’s hospital, and construction of its workshop. Watson said he was particularly struck by the elaborate style of the hats in one group photo.
The poster, Ray Heath, said he did not know anything about the people in the photographs or where they were taken. He’d received them as old glass negatives from his brother-in-law, who died 10 years ago.
Watson, believing they were taken in Tasmania, posted them on another page with no luck, but a Google reverse image search using the photo of the town from a lookout point revealed a match to Denniston on the West Coast of New Zealand. Watson then posted them on a Facebook group for former Denniston locals, called Friends of the Hill, and was flooded with comments and likes. “I’m delighted I was able to find a home for them and connect them to the community that hasn’t seen them before.”
Meanwhile, a person in one of the Australian online groups recognised one of the women in the photographs as her husband’s grandmother, Eva Annie Rowland.
A search of ancestry.com revealed Eva Annie Hornery (1874-1941) of Gunnedah, Australia, married William Albert Rowland (1864-1942) of Glebe, Australia, and died in Maitland, Australia.
Watson said William Rowland appeared to be a blacksmith, which would explain why the photos featured the town’s workshop.
One of their children was Gordon Kenneth Rowland, who was born in Denniston in 1912 and died in 2000. Another was Sylvia Grace Rowland, who was born in Waimangaroa (just down the hill from Denniston) in 1909 and died in 1986.
James said he had been researching Denniston for years and had never seen some of the items depicted in the photos.
“It’s like putting missing pieces of a puzzle together. It was like Christmas to me when they were put up.”