Martha Gold Mining Company Ltd. - Records, 1915 - 1951

1915-1951

Parent

MS-1999-39

Provenance: There is supporting documentary evidence that the Museum Library received material from the Paeroa Magistrate's Court, concerning the Martha Gold Mine, in June 1952. However, apart from a single register (Miner's Rights Register, 1899-1902), labelled P12, hinting at its possible provenance, there is now no way of distinguishing this first accretion from a second much larger accretion that arrived from the Company's Waihi office in December, 1954. This larger collection was given the classification M37 (reassigned to MS-99-39 in the late 1990s) and appears to comprise the bulk of the Library's current Martha mine holdings.
Further evidence suggests more mine material may have been uplifted from the Huntly Inspector's Office by the Museum’s Head Librarian, Enid Evans, in May, 1955, but it is unclear if this uplifting actually took place or whether it was more of an assessment prior to eventual disposal.
In the Auckland Institute & Museum's (AIM) annual report for the year 1957-58, a general acknowledgement of thanks was expressed to all library donors, one of which was the Martha Goldmining Company. Unfortunately, there is no record extant of what was given.
In November 1958, a "series of working plans of the Thames goldfield" were gifted by a Mr K.E. [Kenneth Ernest] Adams, an insurance agent and former solicitor from Thames. This was acknowledged by both the museum director and in the AIM annual report for the year 1958-59.
A final accretion was accepted by the Library sometime prior to 30 May 1960, of a large number of mine charts and plans brought in (and later arranged and described) by the Company's former attorney, Robert Gracie Milligan. An additional carton of material was brought in by Milligan not long after in mid-July to complete the Library's total holdings, which are now held at MS-1998-63 and MS-1999-39 respectively. Both collections share the same provenance, although some mixing of content has inevitably occurred throughout the intervening years. An example of this is the plans gifted by Kenneth Adams in 1958. These can now no longer be distinguished from the charts and plans brought in by Robert Milligan in 1960.
In October, 1976, the Senior Archivist at the National Archives, Wellington, contacted the Library regarding a further holding of wage and time records (79 volumes) held at Paeroa by the Department of Social Welfare as evidence for the issuing of miners' benefits. It was intended that all 79 volumes come to Auckland Museum, but 59 of them were instead sent to the Waihi Historical Society (now Waihi Arts Centre and Museum), where they have been on loan ever since. [Ref. ACQ-1954-1, ACQ-1958-2, ACQ-1960-1 and ACQ-1976-2]

Gold was first discovered at Waihi in the 1870s. In 1935 the Waihi Gold Mining Company became the Martha Gold Mining Company (Waihi) Limited. By the time the mine closed in 1952 it had produced gold worth $84 million.

Donated by the Martha Gold Mining Company (Waihi) Ltd., per R.G. [Robert Gracie] Milligan, Attorney, in May, 1960.

07 Dec 2023