Located at 46-54 Back Road in the small West Coast township of Granity, the State Mines Store (Former) is an unusual structure, fashioned in the early 1950s from pre-existing components, including two relocated prefabs, on the site of an earlier coking plant (1911-1912). Telling part of the story of government venture and efforts into mining, it is a key surviving feature of what had been a much larger industrial colliery precinct in Granity. The State Mines Store (Former) has aesthetic, historical and social significance or value.
Te Tai Poutini (West Coast) has a long history of Māori occupation. Sparsely populated in comparison to the east coast of Te Wai Pounamu, the resources that were available on Te Tai Poutini were nevertheless sufficient to support vibrant communities and frequent visitors. A coastal trail running the length of the West Coast was one of the many trails used to move resources such as pounamu for processing and trading. The area that later became the township of Granity, south of the Ngakawau River, the coastline of the Karamea Bight, would have been part of this trail.
Described as being flat bush land in early days of colonial settlement, the town’s name was given by gold prospectors, in reference to the large quantity of granite in the area. By the turn of the twentieth century, Granity had become noted chiefly as a place for loading coal from Millerton, some three kilometres higher inland. A large timber coal bins structure formed a significant landmark in Granity. Coke ovens were built some 40 metres to the east of the bins structure in 1910-1911. A report in 1912 outlined that the Westport Coal Company (which owned the colliery, including the Granity plant) was ‘proceeding vigorously with their coke-making industry’ and ‘the coke is the purest in the world – in ash, and one of the purest in sulphur – two very important factors in coke’. Additional coke ovens were added to this coking plant in 1923. Coke production was complex, however, and the Granity plant was not as successful as hoped. Production ceased around 1942, in part due to the increasing popularity of Essie and Aga stoves, which required smaller sized coke than the Granity ovens produced. The entire Westport Coal Company was dissolved in 1948, by which time all shares were vested in the Crown. Operations, including those at Millerton and Granity, were taken over by the State Mines Department, a department established under the State Coal Mines Act of 1901 to enter into the business of colliery proprietors. The Department officially commenced to operate the Millerton State Colliery on 1 April 1948. By 1949 plans were drawn up by the New Zealand State Mines for a bulk store at the site of Granity’s coke ovens, but it appears these never eventuated. Instead, components of existing buildings were brought to the site as part of the development of State Mines Store (Former), incorporating some of the earlier coke ovens.
The State Mines Store (Former) building comprises different components and has a varied roof line. Now painted a uniform red colour, the western front façade appears as largely corrugated steel, while the rear includes concrete block and timber, as well as the blocked and framed remains of four brick ovens at the north-eastern end. The roof is largely corrugated steel. A small projecting gantry gable projects above slide doors in the northern wing, and south of this (at centre) is a round-roofed ‘Nissen’ structure with a long rectangular footprint and extensive steel framing on its interior. The low gable-roofed southern wing is timber framed and lined on the interior. A concrete accessible ramp, with verandah above, runs in front of the south half of the western elevation.
In circa 1954 a pre-fabricated ‘Nissen’ structure was brought to the site from Westport, where it is understood to have been used from the 1940s as part of the northern aerodrome at the Kawatiri/Westport Airport. Another smaller structure, an ‘Andac’ fabricated in Melbourne, was also introduced and erected in front of the coke ovens. By 1977 the square-plan chimney and some of the coke ovens had been demolished and the building, at that time painted green and called the ‘State Coal Mines – Depot Building’, was described as follows: ‘…this depot (currently used as a store) comprises an original timber framed section plus two “Quonset” structures. Immediately behind the store are the original coke ovens and dry-wall construction enclosure’. The 1977 description of “Quonset” structures in fact appears to describe the ‘Nissen’ and ‘Andac’ structures. The ‘Nissen’ portion, considerably longer than the basic shell ‘Andac’, housed the Stores office, and there was another office in the workshop. The building continued to be used as a store from circa 1987 by Solid Energy, the state-owned enterprise formed in that year. By the early 2000s, the building was operating as a museum. In circa 2001 a truss roof structure, supported at the rear by four posts, was built over the top of the remaining coke ovens in order to protect them from the elements. A verandah was removed in the early 1990s and a new one reinstated in circa 2003. A new accessible ramp was added at the same time, circa 2003. As at 2025, the building continues to operate as the Northern Buller Museum and is run by a dedicated community team.
Te Tai Poutini (West Coast) has a long history of Māori occupation. Sparsely populated in comparison to the east coast of Te Wai Pounamu, the resources that were available on Te Tai Poutini were nevertheless sufficient to support vibrant communities and frequent visitors. A coastal trail running the length of the West Coast was one of the many trails used to move resources such as pounamu for processing and trading. The area that later became the township of Granity, south of the Ngakawau River, the coastline of the Karamea Bight, would have been part of this trail.
Described as being flat bush land in early days of colonial settlement, the town’s name was given by gold prospectors, in reference to the large quantity of granite in the area. By the turn of the twentieth century, Granity had become noted chiefly as a place for loading coal from Millerton, some three kilometres higher inland. A large timber coal bins structure formed a significant landmark in Granity. Coke ovens were built some 40 metres to the east of the bins structure in 1910-1911. A report in 1912 outlined that the Westport Coal Company (which owned the colliery, including the Granity plant) was ‘proceeding vigorously with their coke-making industry’ and ‘the coke is the purest in the world – in ash, and one of the purest in sulphur – two very important factors in coke’. Additional coke ovens were added to this coking plant in 1923. Coke production was complex, however, and the Granity plant was not as successful as hoped. Production ceased around 1942, in part due to the increasing popularity of Essie and Aga stoves, which required smaller sized coke than the Granity ovens produced. The entire Westport Coal Company was dissolved in 1948, by which time all shares were vested in the Crown. Operations, including those at Millerton and Granity, were taken over by the State Mines Department, a department established under the State Coal Mines Act of 1901 to enter into the business of colliery proprietors. The Department officially commenced to operate the Millerton State Colliery on 1 April 1948. By 1949 plans were drawn up by the New Zealand State Mines for a bulk store at the site of Granity’s coke ovens, but it appears these never eventuated. Instead, components of existing buildings were brought to the site as part of the development of State Mines Store (Former), incorporating some of the earlier coke ovens.
The State Mines Store (Former) building comprises different components and has a varied roof line. Now painted a uniform red colour, the western front façade appears as largely corrugated steel, while the rear includes concrete block and timber, as well as the blocked and framed remains of four brick ovens at the north-eastern end. The roof is largely corrugated steel. A small projecting gantry gable projects above slide doors in the northern wing, and south of this (at centre) is a round-roofed ‘Nissen’ structure with a long rectangular footprint and extensive steel framing on its interior. The low gable-roofed southern wing is timber framed and lined on the interior. A concrete accessible ramp, with verandah above, runs in front of the south half of the western elevation.
In circa 1954 a pre-fabricated ‘Nissen’ structure was brought to the site from Westport, where it is understood to have been used from the 1940s as part of the northern aerodrome at the Kawatiri/Westport Airport. Another smaller structure, an ‘Andac’ fabricated in Melbourne, was also introduced and erected in front of the coke ovens. By 1977 the square-plan chimney and some of the coke ovens had been demolished and the building, at that time painted green and called the ‘State Coal Mines – Depot Building’, was described as follows: ‘…this depot (currently used as a store) comprises an original timber framed section plus two “Quonset” structures. Immediately behind the store are the original coke ovens and dry-wall construction enclosure’. The 1977 description of “Quonset” structures in fact appears to describe the ‘Nissen’ and ‘Andac’ structures. The ‘Nissen’ portion, considerably longer than the basic shell ‘Andac’, housed the Stores office, and there was another office in the workshop. The building continued to be used as a store from circa 1987 by Solid Energy, the state-owned enterprise formed in that year. By the early 2000s, the building was operating as a museum. In circa 2001 a truss roof structure, supported at the rear by four posts, was built over the top of the remaining coke ovens in order to protect them from the elements. A verandah was removed in the early 1990s and a new one reinstated in circa 2003. A new accessible ramp was added at the same time, circa 2003. As at 2025, the building continues to operate as the Northern Buller Museum and is run by a dedicated community team.
