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The small town of Reefton is located in the west of New Zealand's South Island, some 80 kilometres northeast of Greymouth, in the valley of the Inangahua River.
Formerly a gold and coal mining town, coal and forestry make up the main two industries of Reefton today. The rich veins of gold found in a quartz reef near the town led to its name, and also its former delightful name of Quartzopolis. Gold was discovered near the town in 1866, although the major discovery did not come until 1870. Shortly thereafter the town briefly boasted a population of several thousand. Today the population stands at a little over a thousand.
One feature of historical note about Reefton is that it was the first town in the Southern Hemisphere to be lit by commercial electric power, in 1888.
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