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Tom May revisits the West Coast gold mining township he knew as a boy.
Alwyn Owen reads a description of the quartz mining settlement of Crushington, near Reefton, from the 1906 Cyclopaedia of New Zealand. In 1913, Tom May came to the settlement as a school boy and later worked at the stamp mills. Today only two or three houses remain to mark the site.
Tom May describes the continuous rumbling of the stamp mills that residents learnt to live with. The mills were named 'Keep It Dark' and 'Wealth of Nations.'
He describes the house his family lived in and his happy childhood. He was born in Whitehaven in Cumberland, north-west England but his father believed there would be better opportunities for his children in New Zealand.
He emigrated in 1911 and worked for two years until he had saved enough to bring his family out. He recalls the local dialect that his parents kept all their lives, even after emigrating. In Britain there was very little green grass to be seen except for a park, so it took some time for them to get used to the West Coast bush.
He describes the layout of the mines and the work of the miners.
They meet one of the remaining residents Joe Lines, who keeps an eye on the last mine building and fossicks for gold. He boards with Sue Dean, one of the other residents.
They visit her home. Sue Dean was born in Waiuta and after the mine closed there in 1951, she moved to Crushington. She recalls the former hotel and the beautiful garden maintained by Tom Watson. She talks about flooding they experienced. She still gets visitors every Sunday afternoon. Jack Lovelock was born opposite her house and George Lowe, who visited after climbing Mt Everest.
She tells a story about Bill Russell and Claude Butcher and arguments with those who say Lovelock was born in Timaru. She and Tom reminisce about past residents they both knew, such as Old Neil who looked after the water race.
She says in 1913, Reefton was so busy on Saturday nights you couldn't walk down the street. They visit the last mine building in Crushington, the store room where Tom May started work. The former smelting room is described, with two brick furnaces and old crucibles. Joe Lines describes the process, which saw 2,000-3,000 pounds worth of gold in the pot at a time. He still finds small amounts of gold.