Denniston township

Denniston township

In 1945, when John Pascoe photographed Denniston, it had an ill-kempt feel. Like many West Coast coal-mining communities, Denniston fell on hard times in the interwar years and more particularly in the 25 years after the Second World War. The competition from the Waikato mines, the declining demand for bituminous coal for ships and trains, the preference for safer opencast mining, and a consumer switch to clean electricity over gas and coal hurt mines such as Denniston.