Gumdiggers Park

Welcome to the archive images of Tamaki Makaurau

Gumdiggers Park is a must see on your Northland trip and only a 4 minute detour off the main route to Cape Reinga. Here you will see some of the holes dug by gumdiggers more than a century ago, in their quest to obtain Kauri Gum. A Kauri is an everygreen tree from the Araucariacea family and Kauri Gum (Kauri Copal) or "Kauri Gold", which the Kauri produces when damaged, was highly sought after by gumdiggers. Eventhough the gumdiggers were predominantly Dalmatians who arrived in 1885 and worked tirelessly to support their families back home, there were also Maori, English and Irish who used long spears to find the gum around the buried trees. This is an authentic gumfield which has been left undisturbed since the gum diggers left about 60 years ago. On the 15 to 30 minute trail with its information plaques and displays of working equipment, you can also see some of the holes dug by

the gumdiggers in to collect the gum from the ancient giant Kauri forests which have been preserved in

peat swamps. Many theories and speculation surrounds the destruction of the kauri forest, one of them being that a hurricane or Tsuname was responsible for the destruction. Years ago Maori used the gum for lighting fires, produced a pigments used for tattooing and chewing gum. The Europeans

found that it could be used as a high quality varnish while lesser quality gum was used in the manufacture of linoleum and paint.

For more information and interesting facts on the gumdiggers, go to :