Gallery:   cornish pumphouse

The Cornish Pumphouse was built around 1904 to house steam-driven pumping machinery needed to dewater the mine.The pump was used until 1913 and kept in working order until 1929. After this it was abandoned, the machinery removed and the steel beams inside removed for scrap.

photo taken about 1950

All photographs in this section are courtesy of Newmont Waihi Gold.

In 1961 the collar of No. 5 shaft west of the pumphouse collapsed leaving the structure on the edge of a potentially dangerous void.

The autumn colouring of the Virginia Creeper accentuates what had become a tourist icon.

By 1995 regular monitoring of the building and surrounding area by Waihi Gold Mining Company showed that the pumphouse was slowly tilting, and that the ground on which it was built was also moving.

By the beginning of 2005 it was obvious that the pumphouse was tilting dangerously and the ground on which it sat was continuing to move. Experts advised that if it was to be saved the building itself would have to be moved.

A final site and relocation route is determined. The pumphouse will first move south ( to the left of the picture) and then travel west along the tree line towards the top right of this photograph.

23 February 2006
Upper level steelwork is bolted into place. These beams provide the internal support for the shell of the structure during the move and will remain in place in the new location.

13 March 2006
Rafters are lifted into place from the north side. On the skyline the pumphouse now looks the same as it did over fifty years ago in the photo at the top of this page.

13 April 2006
The pumphouse is illuminated as part of Waihi`s celebration of 100 Years of Rail over Easter weekend. Preload material is silhouetted in the lower foreground.

9 May 2006
How do you begin to chop a pumphouse off its base? With a very big saw, in this case a diamond-tipped circular saw that is reputed to be the biggest in Australasia. At a later stage of the operation a diamond wire saw will be used.

21 July 2006
While work continues on the pumphouse in the background, in the foreground the precast concrete slider beams have been placed on the causeway in readiness for the move. Once the pumphouse passes over these beams they will be reused and 'leapfrogged' down the transport route ahead of the building by passing them through a trench in the causeway under the pumphouse.