The well known Queen's Head landmark, a few miles from Waihi on the Paeroa road, consists of this rock which goes under the local name of "Wilsonite."
The shafts on the eastern side of Martha Hill passed through 100 feet of it.
The Victoria Gold Mine Battery in Waikino got its name from Victoria Rock (Queen's Head), located between Waihi and Waikino, which resembles the profile of Queen Victoria.
Wilsonite Facts:
The freshest obtainable specimens of wilsonite show pinkish or purplish surfaces flecked with numerous black streaks. The fractured rock has a somewhat vitreous lustre. When affected by surface weathering the purplish portion of the rock become nearly white, and the dark portions tend to approach a light-grey colour. Highly weathered rock is of a nearly uniform almost white colour.
Photo taken from GZ.
There is room to park here
Footnote:
A few years ago this was the site of a tragic motor vehicle accident.
For those passing here towards Waihi,you will catch a glimpse of a memorial cross.
If memory serves me the victim was an innocent party in the crash.
Also after the solid bronze sculpture was placed here as a memorial
not long after it was stolen for its scrap value.
As the story goes it wasn,t long after much anger and disbelief that the sculpture turned up and was again sited in its current location where it has been ever since.
The Inscription reads:
Rae Gilmour
22 June 1956 - 12 March 1994
Killed at this Place
We love and miss you still
From your partner Mary,family and friends.