Callery’s Battery, located within Golden Point Historic Reserve near Macraes in the Waitaki District of Otago, is New Zealand’s best surviving example of a working stamper battery on its original site.
The battery processed both gold and scheelite from the early twentieth century and is an outstanding example of a small-scale stamp battery in original working condition, giving it aesthetic, and archaeological, historical and technological significance. The battery not only shows how a stamp battery was set up to run, with its stamps, drive train and power source all intact, but it also shows how all of the smaller elements in a battery, such as workshops, electrical plant and the forge, were arranged. Callery’s Battery, located within the Golden Point Historic Reserve and the Golden Point Historic Area (List No. 7211), forms an integral part of a complex and largely intact archaeological and historical landscape reflecting alluvial and hard rock mining associated with the Golden Point and Maritana Mines.
The first quartz mine worked in the Macraes area was at the Eclipse Reef in 1866. A stamper battery was built circa 1868, but had stopped working by 1872. Quartz mining then proceeded at a number of sites. The Maritana Reef was probably discovered in 1889, but, work did not commence until 1902. Around 1902, the Maritana Mine was opened by Charles McGill, who erected a 6 stamp battery powered by a 16 feet [4.8 metre] diameter water wheel to work the reef. The mine closed and was reopened 1911 when the Maritana Mining Company began operations on a different site.
In the meantime, the original Maritana Battery was still in existence on its original site, but in a much-modified form. The Callery brothers took over this battery, and continued to modify it until the present form took shape, probably with none of the original machinery remaining (although some original timbers may have been recycled in the structure). During the 1940s scheelite was in high demand because of the war effort, and Callery and party worked the separate Round Hill Mine, and transported the ore to the ‘Deep Dell Battery’ for treatment. The mine closed in 1954.
Callery’s Battery is set within the Golden Point Historic Reserve. The site provides the public with the opportunity to learn about mining technologies and the lives of miners in isolated goldfields. The area is scarred by mining – with evidence of alluvial, hard rock mining, as well as the dramatic modern mining. The juxtaposition of modern mining and the historic reserve adds an interesting dimension to the site, a reminder of how active this landscape was (and remains today). Golden Point is considered to be one of the two or three large underground gold mines in Otago. It was the largest in terms of the area worked; however the returns were not as great as Bendigo mine. Golden Point area is unusual in that all major forms of mining occurred there - alluvial mining and then quartz mining.
In 2019, Callery’s Battery remains an attraction for visitors to the Golden Point Historic Reserve.
The battery processed both gold and scheelite from the early twentieth century and is an outstanding example of a small-scale stamp battery in original working condition, giving it aesthetic, and archaeological, historical and technological significance. The battery not only shows how a stamp battery was set up to run, with its stamps, drive train and power source all intact, but it also shows how all of the smaller elements in a battery, such as workshops, electrical plant and the forge, were arranged. Callery’s Battery, located within the Golden Point Historic Reserve and the Golden Point Historic Area (List No. 7211), forms an integral part of a complex and largely intact archaeological and historical landscape reflecting alluvial and hard rock mining associated with the Golden Point and Maritana Mines.
The first quartz mine worked in the Macraes area was at the Eclipse Reef in 1866. A stamper battery was built circa 1868, but had stopped working by 1872. Quartz mining then proceeded at a number of sites. The Maritana Reef was probably discovered in 1889, but, work did not commence until 1902. Around 1902, the Maritana Mine was opened by Charles McGill, who erected a 6 stamp battery powered by a 16 feet [4.8 metre] diameter water wheel to work the reef. The mine closed and was reopened 1911 when the Maritana Mining Company began operations on a different site.
In the meantime, the original Maritana Battery was still in existence on its original site, but in a much-modified form. The Callery brothers took over this battery, and continued to modify it until the present form took shape, probably with none of the original machinery remaining (although some original timbers may have been recycled in the structure). During the 1940s scheelite was in high demand because of the war effort, and Callery and party worked the separate Round Hill Mine, and transported the ore to the ‘Deep Dell Battery’ for treatment. The mine closed in 1954.
Callery’s Battery is set within the Golden Point Historic Reserve. The site provides the public with the opportunity to learn about mining technologies and the lives of miners in isolated goldfields. The area is scarred by mining – with evidence of alluvial, hard rock mining, as well as the dramatic modern mining. The juxtaposition of modern mining and the historic reserve adds an interesting dimension to the site, a reminder of how active this landscape was (and remains today). Golden Point is considered to be one of the two or three large underground gold mines in Otago. It was the largest in terms of the area worked; however the returns were not as great as Bendigo mine. Golden Point area is unusual in that all major forms of mining occurred there - alluvial mining and then quartz mining.
In 2019, Callery’s Battery remains an attraction for visitors to the Golden Point Historic Reserve.
