North Island
New Zealand facts & history in brief
New Zealand Map
Thames
is a small town with about 7500 people,
on the Coromandel Peninsula, on the Waihou
or Thames River estuary
and it's largest town.
Thames is the administrative, commercial
and service centre for the whole
peninsula, and Hauraki Plains, farming
district, to the west and south
of the town, with a population of
around 20,000 people.
Thames is an old and historic site.
Captain Cook sailed down the Hauraki Gulf
near to the mouth of the Waihou River
and named it Thames after the River Thames
in England.
In the early 1850s Gold was found nearby,
but a major strike was found in 1867,
and agreement was reached with the local
Maori to allow the prospecting to begin.
Shortland, as Thames was then called,
rapidly developed and prospered,
with a population of around 20,000,
greater than Auckland at that time.
After the easily recovered alluvial
gold was recovered, mining companies
were formed to mine the rich veins found
all over the hills on the peninsula and
continued until the 1920s.
In 1870, Shortland and the nearby
Grahamstown were amalgamated
and renamed Thames.
Three years later Thames
became a borough.
You can click on these photo for an enlargement.
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Thames |
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