Benhar pottery works, Balclutha, Clutha District, Otago Region, South Island, New Zealand

Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):	46° 13' 24'' South , 169° 47' 43'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):	-46.22343,169.79528
Köppen climate type:	Cfb : Temperate oceanic climate

Former coal, sand, and clay mines, and pottery kilns.

Benhar is 2 kilometres east of Balclutha. Once this was a thriving village, a company town for the pottery works. Production ceased in 1986. It now consists of around forty houses strung along the road, with the remains of the pottery kilns at the eastern end. The Hoffman Kiln and 30 metre high chimney is said to be the most complete example of its type remaining in the world.

John Nelson established the Benhar Coal Company here in 1864. After mining coal for twelve years he decided to branch into the pottery business. Clay is often found with coal deposits along the east coast of New Zealand's South island. The pipe factory opened in 1876. In the 1890's Nelson expanded into bricks, tiles and garden vases.

Peter McSkimming had worked in the pipe factory, with his son also called Peter for ten years. Obtaining a loan he leased the business from Nelson, then purchased it in 1894. Relations are said to have been subsequently acrimonious between McSkimming and Nelson, although it is not certain if the business deal went sour, or McSkimming's puritanical religious leanings caused the tension.

A Hoffman kiln, still dominating the village today, was the first thing built. McSkimming's son-in-law, Parker McKinlay travelled to England in 1907, and introduced sanitary wares to the production line. In the 1920's, he employed Thomas Lovatt who introduced domestic wares into the production line. It was soon the largest ceramics manufacturer in New Zealand.

Production methods changed over time. A detailed description of the manufacturing process was given in 1924. There were at this stage two pipe making machines called the Screw and Plunger. In another building several men hand made bespoke items. Even the brick factory could make special orders, including acid bricks for a sulphuric acid manufacturer in Auckland.

To make pipe the clay was pulverised, then turned over in water for two weeks. It then passes through two steel rollers, transferred to the pug mill, and shovelled into the pipe making machine. The pipes are then carried to the drying shed, before going into the kiln at 1400 degrees celsius for two weeks. Firebricks was clay mixed with crushed burn't clay, to be heat resistant. During kilning, salt was thrown in to give the ceramics a glassy finish. Domestic wares had liquid clay poured into moulds. Once dry, enamel was poured over the clay moulds. This consisted mainly of kaolinite, imported as a soft white clay from St. Anstell Cornwall.

The coal mine was described as adjacent to the factory, with the White Horse and Bromielow clay pits nearby. Silica sand was also obtained from one of the pits. The clay was white or dark grey, depending on the pit, with 30% kaolinite, and the rest quartz and mica. The coal mine is probably the disturbed overgrown area opposite the kiln, with minor artisanal clay mining still being seen. Another clay pit is 200 metres north of the kiln, now operated by Nelson Potters Ltd. The coal mine produced 10 000 tonnes of coal per annum, about one third used by the company, and the rest sold. The coal seam was 18 to 30 feet thick.

Benhar was sold to Ceramco Ltd in 1980, then in 1989 to James Hardie Building Products New Zealand Ltd, makers of Fowlers Bathroom Products. On 18 February 1990, a fire tore through the complex, sparing only the office building, storeroom and Hoffman kiln. The company closed the factory, and it was purchased by S.M. Moore, who proceeded to demolish the kiln. He did not get too far before residents in neighbouring houses raced out, and formed a human chain around the building. The local council later fined Moore $56 500, for not getting consent, and the New Zealand Heritage Trust slapped a preservation order on the building. At the time of writing the building has been sold a couple of times to people who plan to restore it, although the task at hand is huge, and progress has been slow.

Mineral List

2 valid minerals.

Rock Types Recorded

Regional Geology

This geological map and associated information on rock units at or nearby to the coordinates given for this locality is based on relatively small scale geological maps provided by various national Geological Surveys. This does not necessarily represent the complete geology at this locality but it gives a background for the region in which it is found.

Click on geological units on the map for more information. Click here to view full-screen map on Macrostrat.org

Eocene - Late Cretaceous 33.9 - 100.5 Ma ID: 1310806	Onekakara Group and Taratu Formation Age: Phanerozoic (33.9 - 100.5 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Onekakara Group; Taratu Formation Description: Quartz conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, mudstone and coal seams. Comments: Zealandia Megasequence Terrestrial and Shallow Marine Sedimentary Rocks (Paleogene to Cretaceous) Lithology: Conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, coal Reference: Edbrooke, S.W., Heron, D.W., Forsyth, P.J., Jongens, R. (compilers). Geology Map of New Zealand 1:1 000 000. GNS Science Geological Map 2. [12]
Priabonian - Campanian 33.9 - 83.6 Ma ID: 1359924	Taratu Formation (Onekakara Group) Age: Phanerozoic (33.9 - 83.6 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Taratu Formation Description: Non-marine quartz pebble conglomerate (locally silica-cemented) sandstone, siltstone, mudstone and coal. Comments: Late Cretaceous - Paleogene sedimentary rocks. Age based on palynology Lithology: Major:: {sandstone},Minor:: {mudstone, siltstone, conglomerate, coal} Reference: Heron, D.W. . Geology Map of New Zealand 1:250 000. GNS Science Geological Map 1. [13]
Triassic - Permian 201.3 - 298.9 Ma ID: 3189657	Paleozoic-Mesozoic crystalline metamorphic rocks Age: Phanerozoic (201.3 - 298.9 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Haast Schist Comments: Caples Terrane Lithology: Metawacke; greenschist/almandine amphibolite grade metasedimentary/metavolcanic schist Reference: Chorlton, L.B. Generalized geology of the world: bedrock domains and major faults in GIS format: a small-scale world geology map with an extended geological attribute database. doi: 10.4095/223767. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 5529. [154]

Data and map coding provided by Macrostrat.org, used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

References

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