Fernhill Mine, Saddle Hill, Dunedin City, Otago Region, New Zealandi

Regional Level Types
Fernhill Mine	Mine
Saddle Hill	Hill
Dunedin City	City
Otago Region	Region
New Zealand	Country

Coal.

The mine was opened by John Logan and Alves (surname), with James Gray later taking an active role in the mine as mine manager/owner. The mine started in 1879, as the Fernhill Coal Company, with £10,000 capital, and too many directors, amounting to twelve. The mine is described later in 1879 as having an aerial tramway, which was not efficient, and was replaced by a railway. The coal seam was up to 19 feet thick, with sand above 80 feet thick.

The mine was noted for a series of litigations, especially when it sold the railway it had built to the government, who then wanted to charge the colliery to use the railway. Gray argued over a five year period, that the government was not charging as high a price to other coal mines in the area, an argument he eventually won in court. Gray was also in a legal dispute with the Dunedin City Council, who had a leaky water race traversing over the property, flooding parts of the coal mine.

As an example, in 1903 the mine produced 11,587 tonnes of coal for the year. A visit that year stated the mine had an endless rope system, automatically pulling trucks of ore out of the mine, and dumping automatically into rail cars.

Daniel Knox died of gas poisoning in 1893, Thomas Reid (56) died from a fall of coal underground in 1896. William Gray (26), son of James Gray, was found at a tram stop having died of alcohol poisoning in 1919.

The mine appears to have closed in the 20th Century. The mine is located north of the Abbotsford railway station.

Co-ordinates are approximate.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References