Waiuta is an official historic site on the West Coast of Te Waipounamu, run by DOC and community group Friends of Waiuta. Settled when a goldmine opened in 1905, the community of 600 almost all left when the mine closed in 1951.
It snows in winter incorporates McQuarrie’s photographs of the historic site, a model village constructed in 2007 and her re-imaging miner/photographer Joseph Divis’ glass plate negatives of the town from the Alexander Turnbull Library collection. Waiuta today is a reminder of the disruptive influence of socio-economic shifts on small communities.
Gallery: Floor 1, Miban Building, 85 Victoria Street, Te Aro, Wellington