In the very centre of the town I live in there is an opencast gold mine, named Martha Mine
after the hill which used to be there. On Sunday, a misty, windless morning, I walked
part of the walkway which goes right around the rim, about 4 kilometres in length.
About a year ago there was a collapse on one side of the pit, as you can see below.
When we first moved here, in 1984, the intention was to fill the pit with water
in the near future, and landscape around it, so that the town would have a
lake on which people could sail, row, and generally enjoy themselves.
At that stage, gold-bearing rock was still being taken from the bottom of the pit.
However, once the pit was more or less out of gold, the mine's owners turned to
exploring underneath it, re-opening some of the old shafts which had been closed, and
finding there remained good pickings to be had.
We still don't have a lake...
This Saturday is Anzac Day, an important day in the lives of New Zealanders and
Australians, as we remember the brave men who died fighting at Gallipoli in Turkey
in 1915, and all of our soldiers who have died fighting in foreign wars, in foreign lands.
Along part of the safety fence around the pit rim stretch a number of poppies,
each bearing the name of a loved uncle, father, grandfather or friend.
We shall remember them.
