The Kumara Times is now available online!
To truly get a sense of what it was like to live, work and be jolly during the height of the goldrush in our town, explore this wonderful new resource @ Papers Past.
about the kumara times
The Kumara Times began publication as an afternoon daily in 1876, and continued for a further 40 years. It was published six days a week, and covered the minutiae of daily life in Kumara. Court, hospital, mining and Benevolent Society reports provide fascinating glimpses into a past community, along with items detailing Richard Seddon’s political career from Mayor of Kumara to Premier of New Zealand.
Where is it held?
Hokitika Museum holds the only known original copies of the Kumara Times, all of which have been copied to microfilm . Two copies of the microfilm exist , one in Hokitika Museum and one in National Library. A recent fundraising effort and generous assistance from the National Archives have allowed this historically important paper to be digitised.
“I’ve spent years researching goldfields’ stories and have always found the Kumara Times a valuable source that provides great insights into the every-day life of a goldfield town and its people. Digitising the surviving copies of the newspaper would allow searches to be undertaken from anywhere in the world and digitisation means keyword searches – every researcher’s dream!
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