31 Hart Street, Blackball, Grey

Blackball

Image Credits; NZPlaces, Coal bins, Blackball, 1906, by Fred Brockett. Purchased 1957 and (3,4,5) Derek Smith and Maclean Barker Photographers.

Both gold and coal have played important roles in the life of the Grey Valley town of Blackball. And of course rail, needed to transport coal.

In the township the former mine manager’s house and an old hotel remain, along with old cottages, from coal-mining days. In the ranges behind Blackball, the energetic can find intriguing relics of gold-mining days. Famous South Island artist Toss Woolaston painted abstract landscapes here, his work is at Te Papa.

The hotel "Formerly the Blackball Hilton" is now a backpackers. For some people these days the most important thing about Blackball is that it is the home of a specialist sausage maker - the Blackball Salami Company. Read on to find out what Susan Buckland learned about Blackball:

Twenty five minutes is all it takes to drive from the West Coast town of Greymouth to the rumpty little town of Blackball, population 370. And it’s a road definitely worth driving for a taste of a genuine, no-frills, West Coast town. Blackball began first as a gold-mining settlement in 1865 and thirty years later began expanding on the back of coal mines discovered in the area. Then in 1908, little Blackball was suddenly thrust into national prominence. In that year, during a three-month strike, all the miners illegally withdrew their labour in support of a half-hour lunch break.

Yep, time out for more than 15 minutes lunch was a no-no for the West Coast miners 100 years ago, even though miners elsewhere in New Zealand were entitled to what now may seem a miserly half hour break. So the gritty West Coast workers threw down their shovels and their eventual success signalled to workers all over the country the benefits of collective action. A Federation of Labour was soon formed, the “Red Feds” became a focal point of worker activism and in due course gave rise to a new political party, the New Zealand Labour Party.

But being the hotbed of Labour politics is not Blackball’s only claim to fame. Standing tall in the main street - tall meaning two storeys in Blackball - is an old wooden hotel with attitude. It’s called “Formerly The Blackball Hilton.” The “formerly” bit defers to the American Hilton Hotel chain which threatened to sue the owners of the Black- ball hostelry if it left the Hilton suffix in place. Well, West Coasters - being a famously resourceful lot - circumvented the potential lawsuit with alacrity. The historic hotel, built in 1910, wears its unique name with pride. An overnight stay at Formerly the Blackball Hilton could well coincide with entertainment in the bar from a top New Zealand band. Musicians leap at the chance to perform there, where a party atmosphere is often whipped up by the locals and supporting cast of visitors from out of town.

Don’t be looking for five-star plush in the bedrooms but there’s comfort aplenty. And try the locally brewed Miner’s Beer when you go down to the bar. Blackball’s other magnet is the Blackball Salami Company. Owners Pat Kennedy and Jane Wells receive orders from around the country for their low-fat beef and venison salami. They’re among the community spirited people of Blackball who have helped place the small town back on the map after the demise of the local mining industry and militant political activity had drained the town its vitality and more than half of its people. Indeed, Blackball was on a sorry road to extinction by the 1960s.

But fast-forward to today’s Blackball, to Pat and Jane’s thriving salami business, operating out of the original Blackball Butcher Shop, and the humming social heart known as Formerly the Blackball Hilton.

By Susan Buckland

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