Ralphs Mine (Ralphs Taupiri), Huntly, Waikato District, Waikato Region, New Zealandi

Regional Level Types
Ralphs Mine (Ralphs Taupiri)	- not defined -
Huntly	- not defined -
Waikato District	District
Waikato Region	Region
New Zealand	Country

Historic coal mine.

Anthony Ralph, an immigrant from Ireland, was the first European settler in the area, taking up farmland. When digging a drain in a gully at what was to become Huntly, he discovered a coal seam 20 feet thick in 1865, and soon opened a small mine in 1869 to supply coal to local settlers, and steamers using the Waikato River. A company was formed in 1875 to develop the site further.

It was his sons, William and Robert Ralph who gained the most from the discovery, owning and managing a major coal mine in the town known as Ralphs until their deaths in the 1930's. Coal made them rich men, owning large acreages in the district, a general store, hotel, and brick making factory in Huntly. Any celebration of the Ralphs by Huntly citizens is problematic as their fortune was gained upon the death and injury of numerous coal miners, for the mine had poor safety, even by the lax standards of the day.

Entities known as the Taupiri Coal Mines Limited or similar gradually took over Ralphs Mine, amongst others in the area from 1889, however still with the Ralph brothers as managers, or as part of the board of directors. The mine was leased to these entities for periods, with the Ralphs taking back control at intervening times. It appears the company was permanently in control of the mine from 1916.

In 1889, large parts of the underground workings collapse, seen at the surface with the ground subsiding 30 feet, and great fissures opening up.

On the 23 December 1890, five men were killed when timbers gave way underground. Killed were James Tracey, John Casby, James Smith, Alexander Harris, and three months later from his injuries S. Hyndman. The Mining Inspector prosecuted the timbering contractors.

More of the underground workings collapsed in 1893, after some pillars were unwisely removed for the coal they contained. The collapse caused the coal to heat, then combust, with fire raging through the workings.

The Ralph Mine workings extended westwards under the Wakiato River. An inquiry was launched at the insistence of the Mines Inspector in 1907, demanding the company sink a shaft on the western side of the Waikato River. The inspector stated should the workings subside, the river would flood the diggings and trap the miners. The company opposed the request due to cost factors. The sinking of a shaft would have cost 2000 pounds.

In 1910, Frank W. Moore, and William Brough were killed in a fall of earth underground.

At 7:20 am on 14th September 1914, what felt like an earthquake occurred in Huntly, then smoke and flame shot out of the mine entrance. A naked lamp had set off an explosion of methane gas. Forty-three miners were killed, and a further nineteen injured. The death toll would have been worse, except it was a Saturday, and a smaller number of miners had been scheduled for the shift. It took fifteen days to recover all the bodies.

An inquest into the disaster came to little, however a later Royal Commission recommended several measures, including the use of safety lamps. Despite widespread media coverage, the Ralphs were still unwilling to improve safety by using part of their fortune won from the mine. The following year the manager William Wood and under-manager Alexander Penman were charged with not undertaking daily safety inspections as demanded by authorities. The mine manager at the time of the disaster Ames Fletcher was charged with manslaughter.

The former entrance to the mine is along the main street in Huntly. A hall was built over the pit head in 1927. This was demolished in 1978, and a Bank of New Zealand branch built on the land instead. A marble plaque originally part of the hall is on the wall of the bank building. In 2009, the Lions Club built a mini poppet head, and information board in the cemetery, where the miners from the 1914 disaster are buried. In 2013, a larger poppet head model was built outside the bank, with again interpretive signage.

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