Foreword

Waihi Borough Council Diamond Jubilee Booklet 1902-1962

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This year, 1962, is the Diamond Jubilee of the Borough of Waihi. Inevitably, at Jubilee times, one's thoughts go back into the past. And for Waihi and District, it is a most colourful and interesting past. Thoughts and memories are evoked of the miners and prospectors who were the earliest settlers and of the other pioneering men and women, who, with them laid the foundations of our town.

This Jubilee Booklet is an endeavour to put on record the history of our town, its compilation has required the work and co-operation of many. To the Editor, the Chairman and Members of the Committee, and all others who have helped, my sincere thanks.

Inevitably one remembers the past but, equally inevitably, one considers the future. For fifty years after its proclamation as a Borough in 1902, Waihi was a mining town, dependent for its existence on gold mining activity. The men who worked to wrest from the earth the precious ore were an integral part of Waihi. But the mines have been closed and the gold mining era has passed. So too has a transition period during which the town sought to find its feet. Now Waihi has entered a new era that may well afford greater stability and security than the romantic past.

With pride we remember that past. With confidence we look to our future.

C. Christensen, Mayor.