Busy days at the Westland Industrial Heritage Park
Over King’s Birthday weekend at the end of May, we hosted another Community Trust day featuring a well-known local doctor and her “witches and warlocks”. Despite unfavourable weather, the patrons turned up for rides on the train. The night run was particularly popular with scary sounds and ghoulish figures around the track!
The Livery team has suggested that a more appropriate name for their display would be “The Coach House” and so we will be adopting that, and eventually, the signs will be updated. Among the collection of horse-drawn vehicles in the Coach House is a tip dray cart that was used for many years by the gardeners at both Seaview and Westland hospitals. The axle on the cart is dated Dec 1906, and the original pair of shafts was replaced with a towbar once the gardeners started using motorised tractors.
Also on display is the Hall Coach that made the last commercial stagecoach journey in August 1923 from Christchurch to Hokitika over the Arthur’s Pass/Otira route. Together with the Foster Coach from Ross and assorted other carts and gigs, the Coach House continues to care for and tell the stories of the early pioneers who arrived to make their fortune during and after the gold rushes of the 1860s/1870s.
A recent donation from a descendant of a founding family is a restored military saddle from World War 1. The saddle is somewhat neglected over the last years but is in good order.
Come and visit us on Wednesdays or Saturdays and hear the stories of Hugh Cassidy, Lillian Fell (stagecoach driver), Bob-a-Stitch Rooney and others, and talk to our gang of volunteers as they work hard to maintain the historic perspective of the Coach House collection. Donations of horse memorabilia, horse collars, bridles, saddles, spurs and other items are welcome, especially if they come with a good story!
We have several other projects in progress, the biggest of these is a Heritage Craft Centre. This will be a new home for Maria and her sewing machines that have become one of the most popular exhibits at the Park and other facilities, such as meeting or workshop areas. We are busy planning and fundraising so, watch this space
Contact Information : Email: wihpark@gmail.com
Website: http://www.westlandheritage.co.nz
Address: 9 Brian Waugh Lane, Hokitika 7810
Text and Images: Westland Industrial Heritage Park
