New/Old Waiuta Photos

These are a couple of photos from the memoirs of Louis John Schmitt who was the company accountant in Waiuta in 1911 - thanks to his grandson, Louis.

The poppet head - the tall structure over top of the mine shaft - was the one built by my great-grandfather. The one modelled in the village is much taller and is from the later era.

I think that's a line of nappies in the second pic - what a hard life! The men worked hard but i think the women worked harder, their day didn't finish after 8 hours.