Blacks Point Museum

The museum building is a former Methodist/Wesleyan church, which was built from pit-sawn timber in 1876 and led as a non-denominational church by a Methodist minister.^[1][2] The church formerly overlooked the town, but 1912 it was moved back and rotated 90° on its section.^[1] As the population of Blacks Point declined, worship shifted to Reefton, and the church closed in 1960.^[1]

The church building was sold to the community for the purposes of a museum, and Blacks Point Museum opened on 1 October 1966. The building was extended in 1976, and the working Golden Fleece stamper installed in the 1980s.^[1] In 2008, a $135,000 purpose-built archive and research room was added. In 2009, a display building and lean-to was constructed, and in 2013 the museum building was re-roofed.^[1]

The exterior of the museum hosts a mural by cinematographer and local resident Alun Bollinger.^[3]

The museum contains a collection of memorabilia relating to life in a mining town in New Zealand, including records from the school, the cemetery, genealogical material, a historical photograph collection, town directories, and a range of mining paraphernalia.^[4][3]

Next to the museum the still-functional Golden Fleece Battery, which was used by prospectors to crush quartz to extract gold. The battery is a water-driven stamper battery built and used in the 1870s.^[2]