GILMOUR HISTORY

Dug from humble wasteland by the Waihi Gold Mining Company in the late 1980s, Lake Gilmour may have started life as an ugly duckling, but it has since grown into a surprisingly attractive swan.

When gold mining in Waihi clunked to a standstill in 1952, dewatering also ceased and the groundwater returned to its original pre-mining level. As a result, the collapsed Milking Cow workings at the eastern end of Pukewa (Martha Hill) filled with water creating a small lake, known as Mine Lake.

Remembered by some as a dreary lake with gloomy dark water surrounded by bush and old mine workings, Mine Lake was a popular public space nevertheless — and home to a large number of waterfowl and ducks.

When gold mining cranked into gear once more in the late 1980s, Waihi Gold Mining created a new lake (okay, large pond) near the Ohinemuri River in compensation for the inevitable loss of the one at Pukewa. — information courtesy

Hauraki District Council