A land of past struggles for wealth that destroyed the Natural Ecology
We find incredible stories of great discoveries, wealth, social & industrial upheavals, political strife, nature's retaliation and human desertion.

1600s- 1830s  Greenstone (jade) was wealth for the (Stone Age) Maori

1830s - Local Maori were massacred the area largely deserted.

1860s - 1900s - Gigantic gold rush bought swarms of modern European settlers flooding the zone.  Forests were cleared; roads, towns and ports pulsed. This was a bustling financial centre of New Zealand.

1900s - 1960s Gold dwindled, sustained financial struggles, people left their homes deserted to the devouring forests and ports closed. Towns closed, hotels, schools and shops. Dreams gone, hard won skills wasted. New industries of coal mining, farming and timber milling sustained the decimated populations.

1960s - 1980s Milling was banned and coal markets collapsed.  People again left their homes to the devouring forests.  More towns closed, hotels, schools and shops. Dreams gone, hard won skills wasted.

Now -  Tourism and diary farming mainly keep the remaining locals employed with others including;- fishing, greenstone, glass making, cement manufacture, gold, coal,

Studies
Remnants of the past still here quickly help us realise our vulnerabilities.

Memories - of the better days

We pass by the trails and places stone age Maori people lived and died in battles for the land.  We see the effects  the arrival of tens of thousands of modern people from other lands.  The arrived by boats and from the mountains. Their quest was gold. Their ports, roads and a few settlements still survive. 

As gold was harder to extract and the gold seekers moved away and the remainders ran the timber mills and coal mines. When coal was overtaken by the new clean oil more people left then the milling stopped and the millers left.  Now we find a living museum a piece of the past to explore and feel. We also see a place where conservation is valued and nature is regenerating amid a sustainable combination of farming, mining, fishing and tourism.