Mine Alone

Mine Alone is a New Zealand history centred in the years 1894 to 1904 in the wider Nelson region.

The history is told through the eventful lives of Joseph and Annie Taylor, their extended family, friends, acquaintances and adversaries. Their story begins in the coal mines, potteries and towns of Staffordshire, England, before their emigration to New Zealand in 1894.

Mine Alone is available now.

The book has 288 pages, 16 illustrations and a soft, glossy cover. It includes an index, comprehensive notes and an extensive bibliography.

ISBN: 978-0-473-12011-5

Review in MEMORIES - (Issue 70 February/March 2008) - Page 57

Mercer explores the life of her grandfather Joseph Taylor, a Staffordshire coal miner from the age of ten who went on to study geology, mining engineering and theology in Manchester. In 1894 he and his wife Annie immigrated to New Zealand where Taylor established the Puponga coal mine at the top of the South Island. Mercer examines Taylor’s tenacious yet difficult character, and the trials he struggled against in his ventures as an expert geologist as well as a charismatic theologian. Mercer’s investigation of letters, journal entries and accounts is thorough and thoughtful. A range of black and white images offer visual insight into Taylor’s world, but the real story here is in the words - a grippingly evocative account of a distinctive personality and an influential figure in colonial New Zealand. Nelson and Wellington regions provide a backdrop for this engaging local history, a great read about a unique man and the mark he made on his community.

Return to Old Northwest Nelson - A Celebration

Old School Cafe, Pakawau - Saturday 15th September 2007

The story of the book centres around the establishment of the coal mine at Puponga, 1895-1902, and the events that take place happen in the greater Collingwood district, that is, the Northwest Nelson promontory and the Aorere valley to Bainham. While the book calls to mind those people and the places as they were, it seemed an appropriate time to celebrate them in some way. For a summary of this event, including a list and photo of those who took part, please click here.

Characters in a Raw Community - a talk by Rosemary Mercer

Nelson Historical Society - Monday 10th September 2007

Despite the long-settled families in their midst, the people of Collingwood, Aorere and Northwest Nelson around 1900 were not an established community in the way that Nelson already was. In the course of research for Mine Alone colourful individuals and incidents emerged among the powers and would-be powers, entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs, idealists and pragmatists, religious and non-religious, settlers and immigrants who rubbed shoulders in the district. This talk was about some of the author's more interesting finds in the lucky dip of available material when researching the book.

REVIEW by Warren Judd - New Zealand Geographic (Number 86 July - August 2007)

This one page review includes a very good synopsis of the book and concludes with the following paragraph. "Rosemary Mercer's book is a tale of a rather unlovable hero supported by a worthy wife, struggling against a suspicious, conservative and uncompliant rural community. It is a grassroots history and should be of particular interest to all those with a fascination for the history and development of the greater Nelson region, although its insights are surely more widely applicable in colonial New Zealand."

ARTICLE by Hayley Gale (The Nelson Mail - 1st June 2007)

Following are excerpts from the article. "A chance discovery of her grandmother's diary led Wellington philosopher Rosemary Mercer to write a book about the man who discovered coal at Puponga in Golden Bay.....Dr Mercer, 77, has spent the past 10 years researching and writing the book, which she has published herself. Book sales are already going well and last Sunday Mine Alone was book of the week on Jim Sullivan's Sounds Historical show on Radio New Zealand. As a child, Dr Mercer was told very little about her grandfather because of a scandal surrounding him, but when she discovered Annie Taylor's diary, she realised there was a story that just had to be told. "I was almost in tears when I read the diary. It was written about her husband while he was in prison." Dr Mercer's father had kept 164 of his father's letters concerning the Puponga Coal Mine, and she also studied those. Having an MA in philosophy and a PhD in Japanese intellectual thought, Dr Mercer was accustomed to academic research. She taught philosophy at both Victoria and Massey universities. Her research brought her to the Nelson area and Golden Bay where she studied old copies of The Nelson Evening Mail and the Golden Bay Argus. She also spent many hours in the National Library and Archives New Zealand in Wellington, just a five-minute walk from her home. "It's not just about Joseph (her grandfather) it's also a social history and a research tool. I have such a good feeling now that the book is finally published.""

RADIO INTERVIEW with Rosemary Mercer