The Mineralogical Museum is located at the Thames School of Mines and it holds one of the best collections in the Southern Hemisphere. There are over 3000 specimens at the museum, including fossils from New Zealand and abroad, which makes Read More

The Goldmine Experience is a guided tour that takes you through operating 19th-century gold-mining machinery in Thames. Volunteer enthusiasts run the Goldmine Experience and it leads underground into one of the richest goldmines of its time. You can see the Read More

Thames Museum Te Whare Taonga o te Kauaeranga showcases the social history of our district with a modern Taonga Maori gallery and other displays relating to the arrival of James Cook in 1769; the opening of the goldfield in 1867 Read More

Bella Street Pumphouse contains gold mining artefacts, working models, historic photo displays, waterworks, electrical turbines and much more. It has been nearly one hundred years since the Bella Street pumphouse engines last operated, but history lives on through working scale Read More