Facilities

• 

• 101 Cochrane Street, Thames
• Collection TypeHistoric Site, Science, Technology
• Phone Number64-7-868 6227
• Fax64-7-868 6995
• Postal Address101 Cochrane Street, Thames 2801
• Hours of OperationSummer Daily 11am-4pm
  Winter Daily 11am-3pm
• Admission ChargesAdult $3.50
  Child free
  Concessions available

About our collection

The Thames School of Mines is a historic property managed by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. It comprises the former TSM complex, in existence between 1886 and 1953. Its Mineralogical Museum is a museum of a gold-mining town. It has country rock, elements in host rocks, fossils for dating before radiocarbon dating and metallurgical samples. The authenticity of the complex is intact.

The Thames school was one of over 30 schools opened up in the mining districts during the late 1880s-1890s. Reefton and Thames are the only two surviving examples in New Zealand now.