Paul Monin recounts the trials of Waiheke’s 19th century manganese miners, and the industry which has left marks on the landscape we can still see today
Although I wrote about the history of manganese mining on Waiheke in Waiheke Island: A history (Dunmore, 1992), I wasn’t able to cover it in my recent book Waiheke Island: 800 years of history, due to a lack of space. It is time for a new generation to learn about this long-forgotten industry, one which left its marks on the island’s landscape.
Mining made a tentative start on Waiheke in the mid-1840s but was abandoned until 1872 before resuming on an industrial scale until 1896 .
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