Directions

Go over the Buller Bridge on State Highway 67 and take the first right. Follow this street (Menzies Street) until you come to Roebuck street and turn left. Go to the end of Roebuck street and turn right onto Queen street. Follow this street until you see Coaltown Museum on the left hand side.

Coaltown Museum

Coaltown is an industrial Museum dedicated to telling the stories of the pioneers that battled our rugged environment in search of a better life.

The Buller District has a rich history, Coaltown is an industrial Museum dedicated to telling the stories of the pioneers that battled our rugged environment in search of a better life. 

We have displays on Coal and Gold Mining, Minerals, Hospitals, Maritime, Aviation, Transport and Saw Milling.

Major exhibits include a “Q Wagon” and 20 Tone Break Drum from the Denniston Incline and a 2 storey high triple expansion steam engine from the bucket dredge SS Mawhera.

Coaltown Museum opened in October 1977 in the old Morley & Co Brewery Building, previous to this the building had operated for nearly 90 years as a gravitational brewery.  We have a number of displays on the different industries of the buller:

Coal Mining:

Westport is a town built on coal extraction from wild and remote places like Denniston, Stockton and Millerton where daily life was a struggle and comfort a luxury. 

On display we have a “Q” Wagon used on the world famous Denniston Incline, this large 8 Ton coal wagon is perched at 45⁰ showing the grade of steepest part of the incline, we also have a 20 ton break drum used to slow the wagons as they raced down the incline. 

A simulated underground mine will give you insight into the working conditions of the miners.  Our collections of photographs and objects will paint the picture of hard daily life for not just the miner but also the families that called these places home.

Gold Mining:

Gold was the original lure for people to the Coast and prospectors endured great hardship in search of riches and a better life.

Maritime:

There was only one practical way to get the “black gold” away from the coast for sale to the worlds industry and that was through the port at Westport. 

Our Maritime displays show the attempts to tame the Buller river and turn it into a usable port and the many ships that have used and still use the port today.

Brewery:

The Museum is housed in a former brewery building, and a great number of the items in our brewery exhibit were used in this building. 

Westport’s main street once boasted 19 bars and hotels.  This was testament to the West Coasters “Work hard, play hard” lifestyle.

Saw Milling:

The Land needed to be cleared and the timber milled to create this fledgling community.  Our exhibit has some of the tools used to cut a foothold in the rugged and wild West Coast.