| Thames | |
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Thames
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Region | Waikato |
| District | Thames-Coromandel District |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Total | 6,756 |
Thames i/ˈtɛmz/ is a town at the southwestern end of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island. It is located on the Firth of Thames close to the mouth of the Waihou River. The town is the seat of the Thames-Coromandel District Council.
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The Māori name for Thames is Hotereni. The Māori iwi are Ngāti Maru, who are descendants of Marutuahu's son Te Ngako. Ngāti Maru is part of the Ngati Marutuahu confederation of tribes or better known as Hauraki Iwi.
The town was initially built during a gold rush, the first major discovery of gold was made on August 10, 1867 by William Hunt, in the Kuranui Stream at the north end of Thames. The subsequent mine produced more than 102,353oz bullion and was known as the Shotover. The era from 1868 to 1871 were the bonanza years for the town with gold production topping one million pounds sterling at its peak. Official figures for production of the Thames Mines recorded a yield of 2,327,619oz bullion with the value at $845 million. The 3 richest fields were the Manukau / Golden Crown / Caledonian mines but many others yielded near equivalent amounts. Towards the end of the 19th century Thames was the largest centre of population in New Zealand with 18,000 inhabitants and well over 100 hotels and three theatres 1868. For a while it was thought it would replace Auckland as the major town in the area. A former local institution of learning was the Thames School of Mines. Thames also benefited from a period of extensive Kauri logging in the surrounding ranges around the same time.
Many people migrated to Thames at its peak, and it was soon the second-largest city in New Zealand (the largest being Dunedin then Auckland). However, as the gold began to diminish, so did the number of inhabitants, and although Thames never shrank, it has never grown much either. It is still the biggest town on the Coromandel. The population in the 2006 census was 6,756, an increase of 51 since 2001.[1] Many residents work in tourism and locally owned businesses servicing the local farming community.
Thames was formed from two historic towns, Grahamstown and Shortland, of which many original buildings still stand. Shortland was to the south of Thames and was founded on the 27th of July 1867 when James Mackay, civil commissioner for the Hauraki District, concluded an agreement with local Māori. This agreement secured the rights to local mineral deposits leading to the proclamation of the Thames Goldfield on 1 August.
Grahamstown was founded the following year at the northern end of present Thames, approximately one mile from Shortland. The two towns merged in 1874 after it emerged the heart of the Goldfield was in Grahamstown. Shortland waned in importance until the turn of the century when the Hauraki Plains were developed for farming and the Shortland railway station was opened.
The land involved in goldmining in Thames was Māori owned; important parts of the goldfield were owned by the Ngāti Maru rangatira (chief) Rapana Maunganoa and the Taipari family. In 1878, when Wiremu Hōterene Taipari married a woman of the Ngāti Awa tribe of Whakatāne, Ngāti Awa carvers arrived at Thames and built a meeting house at Pārāwai. It is incorrectly said to have been a wedding gift for the couple, when actually Wiremu's father had paid money for another whare (meeting house), which was sold to the governor general at the time. When Wiremu's father returned to collect the whare the Ngati Awa chief apologized and said he would have another one built which would signify the marriage between Wiremu Taipari and his daughter. The house, named Hotunui in honour of an important Ngāti Maru ancestor, now stands in the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Thames Hospital is the oldest still operating in New Zealand, having been built in the 1860s. The Māori owned land was gifted by the Ngāti Maru rangatira Rapana Maunganoa. A new clinical centre and other improvements were completed in 2008, and a new maternity facility opened on 5 September 2011.[2]
A major employer is the Toyota New Zealand plant, which assembled CKD cars until 1998, and now refurbishes imported used cars. Another is the precision engineering works and foundry of A & G Price, established 1868, who built 123 steam locomotives for New Zealand Railways Department.
The Kopu sawmill, a few km south of Thames, closed in 2008 with the loss of 145 jobs.[3][4]
The Brian Boru Hotel, built in 1868, is the oldest Irish pub in New Zealand.[5]
Thames High School is a secondary (years 9-13) school with a decile rating of 6 and a roll of 647.[6] The school was established in 1880 and is the second oldest secondary school in the Auckland Province.[7]
Moanataiari School, Parawai and Thames South are full primary (years 1-8) schools with decile ratings of 5, 6 and 3 and rolls of 114, 336 and 164, respectively.[8][9][10]
St Francis School is a full primary (years 1-8) school with a decile rating of 7 and a roll of 86.[11] It is a state integrated Catholic school[12]
All these schools are coeducational.