Painting Matthew Wynn

The back street, between the back of the shops on Broadway and the river is called The Strand, named by the early diggers with their typical wry humour after one of the flashest streets in London.

It began, in 1871, as the main street of the new town as the easiest place to throw up a building was in the relatively open spaces along the riverbank. (The rest of the area was dense tangled primeval rain-forest).

The first pic is of a painting by Matthew Wynn that hung for some years in the Inangahua County Council chambers. There are about 8 pubs in that scene. No-one knows where the painting is now, looks like it's been pinched. The second pic is of the shanties etc on the site of today's motorcamp.

There was a reason for the lack of bush along the riverbank – floods. They found that out in 1872 when a lot of the settlement was washed away overnight. So the business area was moved back, away from the river, to the rough track cut parallel to The Strand.

Charles Broad was appointed the area's first magistrate and goldfield warden. When he got out of the coach, outside Dawson's Hotel, his new residence and courtroom, he looked up the street and said, “Well, it's not Broadway!” So, of course, the new main street was named Broadway.

When the town celebrated the centenary of the electricity supply, in 1988, a congratulatory telegram was received from the Mayor of New York – 'From one Broadway to another.'

With goldmines all around it, Reefton quickly became quite a town. By the end of 1873 it had a bi-weekly newspaper, two banks, three churches, telegraph communication with Westport and Greymouth and a coach service to Greymouth.

By 1886 it had two more newspapers, two stock exchanges, a coach service to Westport and Nelson and a total output of at least 300,000 ounces of gold.

By the end of the century the population exceeded 4,000 and it had sixteen hotels – Dawson's Hotel being described as one of the best equipped in New Zealand. Reefton was booming.

  By Alan Hunt