This site contains information about the township of Coromandel and some of Thames.
The Auckland settlement began in 1840 and had a steadily increasing influence on the area. In 1852, there was a small gold rush. In 1862 a bigger gold rush. Then gold was discovered in the South Island and many men from Coromandel departed who were more interested in easy alluvial gold than the type which needed hard digging and quartz crushing in the Coromandel seams. There were men in New Zealand and England willing to finance the purchase of equipment and find the expertise needed to develop the field and Coromandel survived. The town suffered another setback in 1867 when the Thames goldfield opened. Some of the quartz crushing equipment and expertise moved down the peninsula. Coromandel limped on. It had a more permanent population by now which appeared very loyal to the area. Another goldfield was discovered up the back of Coromandel at Tokatea and the area recovered somewhat. Once that was over the township relied on farming, fishing and tourism, its been like that ever since. Coromandel township is often confused with the region 'Coromandel'. It's good to remember that the township had the name first. I think for clarity the region should have been named something else. | Due to the changes google made which were beyond my control, I've had to move the corohistory pages to this site. I hope you enjoy the information which I have gathered over the years.  Ballin Bros Brewery opened in Coromandel in 1872 NZ scrapbook, Auckland Public Library |
