Blacks Point Museum

Blacks Point Museum is the Reefton and surrounding areas museum and is worth a visit even if your not a history buff!

This fascinating museum right in the heart of Blacks Point is housed in the old Wesleyan Methodist Church dating from 1876.The museum houses thousands of exhibits which offer an insight into the history of the Inangahua area and the early settlers who came to work the mines and make this region their home. 

Peter Lawn or Graham Gollan, the museum's enthusiastic curators, are always willing to explain the history of the area to visitors, or to assist the search for information in the museum's extensive archive. The museum would be have to be the first point of call anyone interested in family history or genealogy.

Directly behind the museum on the site of the former Golden Fleece Battery is a working 5-head quartz stamper battery. The battery is powered by a water driven pelton wheel recovered from the Golden Lead Mine site in Deep Creek.

This is a fascinating piece of mechanical machinery, carefully restored and maintained in working order by Bill Watts. You can watch the stampers (vertical hammers) move up and down in a cyclical rhythm crushing the quartz and releasing the gold.

The battery operates as part of the museum and is open every Wednesday and Sunday afternoon from late October to mid April. Entry is $1.00/adult.