Template:Wp-Collingwood, New Zealand-History

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The town was originally named Gibbstown after the local settler and politician William Gibbs (1817–1897), who arrived in the area in 1851. The settlement was later renamed Collingwood after Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, Lord Nelson's second-in-command at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

Following the discovery of payable gold deposits in the Aorere Valley in 1856 the town's population surged. The population peaked at an estimated 2500 gold miners. In 1857 police buildings were built. In 1859 there were 3 merchants, 2 shoemakers, a tailor, 2 butchers and 7 inns. Fire damaged the town in 1859. In 1860 the gold rush was over and the miners had moved on to the West Coast of the South Island. In the late 1870s coal mining created a second mining boom for Collingwood.

A suggestion was made that Collingwood should become New Zealand's capital. In 1864, three Australian commissioners were tasked with recommending a more central location for the capital and they did visit Golden Bay (then still known as Massacre Bay) but their recommendation was for Wellington.

The town has been damaged by fire several times, being almost destroyed in 1904 which started in the bakery and then spread to the general store. Every building on Tasman Street was destroyed.

In 1930 eight buildings were destroyed in a fire including the Collingwood Hotel and the Presbyterian Church. A fire in 1967 started in the Post Office Hotel and destroyed the hotel and the Memorial Hall.^[1] A replacement memorial hall was built in 1972 and contains the Collingwood Library.