In just 92 minutes, we aim to turn your pristine idea of our wild region upside down—revealing the real story of environmental destruction, adaptation, and regeneration that has defined life here.
You’ll cotton on quick enough why the folks around these parts are a different breed – true “Pioneers by Nature.” They had to be bloody clever and a little mad to scratch a living out of this skinny stretch of nowhere.
Eighty-three percent! That’s near enough the whole damn West Coast that is locked away as conservation land these days… but it wasn’t always that way!
Six hundred kilometres top to toe, and barely eighty across at the widest bits. Squashed between the Tasman Sea’s roar and the inscrutable Southern Alps. The Coast’s dramatic landscape holds a large slice of essential New Zealand history.
Once the early European explorers finally fought their way through the mountains and the dense coastal vegetation. That’s when the real shake-up began, kicking off a period of significant change around these parts.
Back in the late eighteen-hundreds, this place was busier than a one-legged man in a bum-kicking contest. Folks were pouring in by mountain pass and boat. Arrival numbers surpassing that foreign land known as “Auckland” during busier years!
A real mix of tenacious individuals from every corner of the globe turned up, all chasing after gold, coal, and timber once the West Coast gold rush had set the scene.
Pickaxes, saws, dynamite, fire, water, and all sorts of newfangled contraptions – they were all utilised to tear this land apart during the peak of destruction.
Mighty forests were felled for timber and open paddocks. Hillsides vanished. Rivers pushed aside and churned to cough up the yellow metal. Mountains became hollowed out like rotten teeth. All for a bit of coin in the pocket and resources to help build Gods Own* Country.
(*That’s referring to New Zealand if you weren’t aware!)
Where giants of trees once stood for millennia, today you are only seeing mere saplings by comparison. Still trying to reach their ancestral glory again. If you’ve got a keen eye, you can spot the historic axes marks on mossy stumps hidden in the bush, a decaying nod to the native timber and sawmill history.
Where prospectors found gold under the trees, all hell broke loose! Digging, blasting, sluicing, shifting, stacking – the land never stood a chance.
The pristine rivers, brimming with gold, had their guts ripped out. Waterways exhumed, right down to the bedrock. Some creeks now only see daylight when the heavens really open up, since they have been forced underground by man’s intervention.
This land’s been through the wringer and is still mending itself, a journey of environmental destruction and regeneration literally runs through the undergrowth on The Coast.
Despite this seemingly one sided war for riches. Don’t go thinking the land just rolled over and played dead through everything.
This tough old landscape had a few tricks up its sleeve and longevity is on its side, soon shaping the resilient character of the people opting to call it home.
The famous bloody rain could make a bloke wish he’d never been born – or worse. Newspapers and authorities simply decided to call drowning the “West Coast Death,” and plenty of poor sods copped it thanks to the sky letting loose, either leading to exposure or washing people and livelihoods away in floods and slips.
Them people in the timber industry? Life was a gamble.
Trees falling the wrong way, trains jumping tracks, kids vanishing into piles of sawdust like they were swallowed by the earth. There’s plenty of captivating stories to be discovered. Many which have been told numerous times locally over a bottle of grog but are now ready to be shared with you.
And speaking about the devil juice, there has always been a fair bit of booze sloshing around, whether you had struck it rich or not.
So keep your eyes peeled, and you might still spot old bottles in the undergrowth on your travels. Pinpointing where short lived settlements used to be. Offering a glimpse into life on one of Earth’s final colonised frontiers.
Since 1971, Shantytown has been keeping many of the true stories and artifacts from the 1800s alive. Showing off how man and land shaped this coast – for better or worse – and what this meant for the whole darn country as it developed into a nation.
We’re a must-see Greymouth attraction, West Coast attraction, and while we’re boasting, New Zealand attraction too for that matter!
“We have helped millions of visitors experience the West Coast in a more deeply connected and truthful way, with a few tall stories thrown in for their enjoyment!”
And there’s plenty more to discover, if you’re keen to dig a bit deeper into the history of the West Coast. We’ve got some pearler stories that’ll curl your toes, and a few that’ll make you question what you’ve done with your life!
For the blokes and sheilas who like to take their time, there’s cart loads of displays and information telling the proper story of how this region got started. Covering the gold rush days right through to the tough times of the Great Depression!
Some people say we’re old fashioned, and to tell the truth, we are! As a customary “Welcome to the West Coast” gift, grab your complimentary Souvenir Guide below.
1877 built L508 “Gertie”
Avonside Engine Company, Bristol.
Train Timetable: 11.00 am, 12.30 pm and 2.00 pm
Gates Open: 9am-4pm
Cafe, Photos, & Gold Panning open from 10 am.
We recommend you allow at least 90 minutes to experience our award-winning attractions. Click image to view details.
Shantytown Heritage Park is home to the West Coast Events Centre – ideal for hosting small, intimate meetings up to large corporate events of up to 600 delegates. Read more…
A wedding at Shantytown is like no other. Private bush clad location, authentic historic church, full on-site catering and support, while stunning photo opportunities abound. Read more…
We provide hands on and active learning programmes for students aged 5-18. Our Centre offers a broad range of programmes covering all areas of the curriculum, suitable for most topic areas. If we don’t have anything you are looking for we will endeavour to create a programme which suits your learning intentions. Read more…
Shantytown is conveniently located between the West Coast’s major towns, Greymouth and Hokitika – just 3kms off the main highway (SH6).
Open Hours: 9 am – 4 pm
Closed: Christmas Day
Morning Train Times: 11am
Afternoon Train Times: 12.30 pm & 2.00pm
