Жаңа Зеландиядағы Блэкболл тарихы

Town in the South Island of New Zealand

The gold rush in the Moonlight district in 1864 65 heralded the birth of Blackball. In November 1865 a gold nugget was found in what was later called Blackball Creek but it was not until 1866 that gold in payable quantities was found in upper Blackball Creek. At the time, this area was known as Garden Gully but as gold continued to be found, it became known as Croesus. As the number of gold miners continued to increase, the difficulties of supplying them with food multiplied. The Plateau (later to be known as Blackball) was used as an over night stop in the two day journey from Greymouth. Huts and small store sheds gradually formed a small township which became known as Blackball. On 7 June 1941 the Blackball Lodge No 80 of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes was opened In the Oddfellows Lodge Hall by the Provincial Grand Primo of the West Coast Bro. T. J. Preston KoM. The founders of the lodge were Bro. T. Durkin C. P. and Bro. T Nicolson C. P. both of whom would cycle 35 miles every fortnight just to attend lodge meetings of Blackball Lodge and thus fulfill their duties as Founders. The first officers of the Blackball Lodge No 80 were Bro. Durkin C. P.(Worthy Primo) Bro. Nicholson C. P. (Alderman of Benevolence) Bro. R. Cooke (City Chamberlain) Bro. J Moore (City Marshall) Bro. Reid (City Tyler) Bro. R Duggan (City Registrar) Bro. R Mountford (City Constable) Bro. A Ross (City Waiter) Bro. Johnston (City Minstrel) Bro. J Barry (City Treasurer) and Bro. M O'Flaherty (City Secretary)

Blackball was the terminus of the New Zealand Railways Department's Blackball Branch, a branch line from the Stillwater–Westport Line. The line was approved in 1901, construction began in 1902 under the auspices of the Public Works Department, trains first ran in 1909, and it was officially opened on 1 August 1910. Private interests constructed a steep extension from Blackball into the Paparoa Ranges that employed the Fell mountain railway system to aid braking. This extension was later taken over by the State Mines Department and was known as the Roa Incline. Passenger services operated to Blackball until 1940, primarily for the benefit of miners. Coal was the mainstay of the railway, and when tonnages dropped to an unsustainable level the Roa Incline closed on 25 July 1960. Trains to Blackball became increasingly infrequent, and when a flood destroyed two spans of the line's bridge over the Grey River on 21 February 1966, the Railways Department viewed repairs as unjustifiably expensive and closed the line. Blackball's station building had been destroyed by fire in 1955.

The Blackball Museum of Working Class History opened in the town on 1 May 2010, in order to "celebrate the role working people have played in creating the infrastructure and wealth of a nation, [and] the part working people have played in creating society". The "Formerly the Blackball Hilton" hotel was founded in 1910 as the "Dominion Hotel", but in the 1970s renamed itself "Blackball Hilton" after the mine manager (after whom the town's main street, Hilton Street, is also named). The hotel changed its name after objections from the international hotel chain Hilton Hotels & Resorts. An annual cycle race, the Blackball Working Men's Cycling Classic, was held in the town in January for three years: 2010–12. Cyclists raced between Blackball and the nearby settlement of Atarau (Moonlight).