Ghost Towns of New Zealand by David McGill

Hardback, 1983 reprint, 248pages, good condition

This book tells the tale, from the pioneering pillage of whales, gold, kauri, coal and gum, to the final decline and death of what once were prospering industries. It recreates the vigorous boom days of tent towns which sprang up overnight in response to whispered rumours and which disappeared just as mysteriously. It revives the atmosphere of the lawless pleasure-pots with too many pubs and newspapers, but which at least offered temporary respite from a day spent bent double down a mine shaft, or monotonously scraping gum. It also tells of the shipbuilding and railhead towns, the flaxtowns and those that defy categorisation - all of which are no more.

The author invites you to travel with him on his epic journey along 16,000 kilometres of New Zealand's lesser roads, in search of old haunts and traces of those who dwelt in them. He offers an invitation, too, to join in conversations with the old-timers who remain, diligently working out the last ounce from once-prosperous claims, or simply waiting to- spin a good yarn to anyone interested in a past that is much too easily forgotten.