New Zealand - Reefton - West Coast, Wealth of the Nations Gold Mine at Reefton, water wheel and mine flooding, water starting to enter the buildings, wheel is still flowing water... - 1900 - 1910 Period - Herbert Percy Mourant Photographer - Real Photo Post Card Format - Privately printed post cards service 1900 -1920 - Image #340813 - Mourant Family Archive Notes: Herbert Percy Mourant was born in New Zealand in 1881 at Nelson, died 1972. Worked at the Bank of New South Wales for over 20 years in various roles and throughout New Zealand. In 1919 he set up and established the New Zealand Bank Officier's Guild, published a book in 1947 recording the guild... "The first twenty years of the Guild 1919 -1939." - Herbert married Mabel Constance Seagar who attended Victoria University in Wellington from 1900 - 1906 - Original family came to New Zealand in the 1870's from Jersey and Guernsey, settled West Coast, Picton and Nelson. - Family name connections Tourgis, Mourant and Seagar - Herbert was a keen photographer at the turn of the century and had his own photographs turned into post cards a service that was available in New Zealand from around 1905, a popular means of sending friends a photo around the world. - Reefton is a small town on New Zealand's West Coast region, some 80 km northeast of Greymouth, in the valley of the Inangahua River. - In 1888 Reefton became the first town in New Zealand and the Southern Hemisphere to receive electricity, the work of Walter Prince, and its streets were lit by commercial electricity generated by the Reefton Power Station. - Rich veins of gold found in a quartz reef near the town led to its name, and also its former name of Quartzopolis. - Gold was first discovered near the town in 1866, although the major discovery was made in 1870.