Just one thing would enhance the historic goldmining waterwheel outside Central Stories in Alexandra, he says.
''A set of stampers alongside it ... like they were when it was going. Then you'd get the full story, not just part of it.''
Mr Symons (76) was instrumental in dismantling and moving the 6.8m-wide Alpine Reef waterwheel to Alexandra from the Old Man Range, about 50 years ago.
Then working as a building contractor, Mr Symons retrieved the giant piece of mining machinery and placed it outside the new William Bodkin Memorial Museum in Thompson St, in 1973.
More than 30 years later, after the flood-prone museum building was replaced by Central Stories, the waterwheel was moved again, to its present location.
It has been on that site for a decade and about 50 people attended a function at the museum this week to celebrate interpretation panels finally being added to the waterwheel housing.
The panels outline the history of the ill-fated Alpine Reef mining operation and illustrate how the wheel was used with the stamping battery to crush quartz to a fine pulp, making it easier to extract the gold.
Plans in 2008 to shift the rest of the historic machinery, including the stamper battery, from the original site to beside the waterwheel were blocked by the Department of Conservation and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.
At that time, Doc said the rest of the machinery was in a historical context in the Kopuwai Conservation Area and should be viewed where it was placed by the goldminers.
Mr Symons said yesterday he would like to see a replica of the stamping battery built to scale beside the waterwheel, so it could all be seen in context.
''It's a shame,really, that the set of stampers isn't already beside it, but maybe that could still happen.''
Historian and author John Breen, also of Alexandra, said the waterwheel and Alpine Reef operation was the focus of his new book.
''There's a lot of people who feel really personally involved with this project and they respect the heritage of this area. The book will complete the history of the Alpine Reef.''
Alexandra Rotary joined forces with Central Lakes Trust, the Community Trust of Otago to relocate the waterwheel from the old museum site to its current site.
Ill-fated
The Alpine Reef mining story:
• 8ha gold mining lease granted to Alpine Quartz Reef Company (Charles Nicholson) in 1882
• Site was 1600m above sea level at the head of the Fraser River
• Gold plant began operating in April 1883 and abandoned later that year
• Investment was lacking and water in short supply for three-quarters of the year
• Operation depended on water as a power source, so little gold ever recovered
