[PREFACE]
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PREFACE.
THE memory of the early discoveries of gold in Otago is fast dying out, and there are few left to tell the tale. It was suggested to me that I should gather together the records which are scattered in a fragmentary form, through newspapers and official documents, and blend them with the unpublished information, acquired both privately and in my capacity as Goldfields Secretary, into a continuous narrative. With this view the present work has been prepared. When a similar history of the Victorian Goldfields came to be written, it was found that, although but a few years had elapsed, only an imperfect sketch could be given, owing to the scarcity of authentic contemporaneous records. This fact so impressed me, that I made a point of setting down each event as it occurred, after my acceptance of office early in 1862. At the same time I collected every scrap of information obtainable respecting those things which happened before my arrival in the Colony. From these sources I have compiled what may be accepted as a faithful, and, so far as possible, a complete history of the Early Discoveries. Valuable assistance has been rendered by some of those who bore a part in the stirring episodes of the eventful times when the golden mysteries of Nature were being forced; and brave men, armed with the pick and shovel of the prospector, went forth in search of fortune amidst the desolate solitudes of the almost unknown interior.
I have thought it best to adopt the narrative form as being best calculated to attract the general reader, to whom it is hoped this record of the rise and progress of an industry which has already contributed Forty-three Millions to the capital wealth of New Zealand may not be uninteresting.
VINCENT PYKE.
DUNEDIN, 4th February, 1887.
[CONTENTS]
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Early Settlers. --Exodus. --Maori Goldfinders. --The Matau. --Mr. Archibald's Expedition. --The Fortifications. --Mr. Ligar's Discovery. -- Tuturau. --His Honor's Comment. --Popular Feeling. --Petition to the Provincial Council. --Reward Offered............1
CHAPTER II.
The Chief Surveyor's Report. --Prospecting. --Mr. Garvie's Discoveries. -- The Clutha, Manuherikia, and Tuapeka Rivers. --First Practical Proof of Gold in Otago. --Woolshed Creek. ---The Mataura. -- Blacklock and Roebuck's Expedition. --Discovery of Gold at Lindis Pass...............8
CHAPTER III.
The Interior of Otago. --Difficulties to be Surmounted. --Rush to the Lindis. --First Goldfields Act and Export Duty Act. --Samuel Mclntyre's Claim for Reward. --Docherty. --Reports of Robert Short and Frederick Walker. --Mr, Stafford's Statement. --Failure. -- Gabriel Read's Letter. --Doubtful Feeling. --John Hardy's Statement. --Major Richardson's Message to Provincial Council. --Resolution of the Council..........15
CHAPTER IV.
Letters about Gabriel's Gully. ---Mr. T. B. Gillies Prophesies. --The Rush. --"Off to the Diggings."--Major Richardson's Visit. --The Chief Surveyor's Report. --Munroe's Gully. --Waitahuna. --Captain Baldwin's Account. --Wetherstone's. --The Woolshed. --The Superintendent's Address to the Provincial Council.......22
CHAPTER V.
Black Peter. --Who are "Discoverers?"--Victoria and Otago. --The Woolshed and Tuapeka Stream. -- Black Peter's Claim. --Mr. Forster's Letter. --Mr. Gillies' Statement. --Mr. Munroe's Statement. --Peter's Own Story. --The Reward. --The Superintendent and Provincial Council. --The Goldfields' Committee and Black Peter..............31
CHAPTER VI.
Read as a Prospector. --Waipori. --West Molyneux. --Additional Reward. --Major Richardson's Troubles. --Arrival of Police from Melbourne. --Dinner to the Chief Constable. --Iron Sand at Green Island Beach. --Dr. Stuart's First Sermon on the Goldfields. --Bogus Rushes. --The Beaumont. --The Blue Mountain Rush and Sam Perkins. --"A Man named Jack".............39
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CHAPTER VII.
First Escort. --False Reports in Melbourne. --Rush from Australia. -- Wellington's "Great Expectations."--Cost of Provisions. --Fear of Maori Migration. --Gold at Terawhiti. --Roads to Tuapeka. --Maungatua. --Waihola. --Mount Stewart. --Exploration of the Molyneux. --"Sticking Up."--Garrett's Exploits. --A Military Force. --Special Legislation. -- Reactionary Movement. -- The Superintendents. -- Cautionary Notice. --Petitions from the Unemployed...........46
CHAPTER VIII.
Dunstan Creek. --Kyeburn. --Mr. McCrae, Prospector. --The First Gold-mining Regulations. --The First Chief Officers. --Decrease in the Yield. --Stampede of Miners. --Winter in 1862. --Gabriel's District Mining Board. --Organisation of the Goldfields Department. --New Regulations............56
CHAPTER IX.
Small Discoveries. --"New Diggings."--Eighty-seven Pounds Weight of Gold. ---Hartley and Reilly. --Reward of £2,000. --The Dunstan Goldfield. --Government Prospectors. --Stebbing. -- The Manuherikia. -- Personal Narrative...........65
CHAPTER X.
Hartley and Reilly's Account of their Discoveries. --The Genuine Prospector. --Reilly's Beach. --Hartley's Beach. --Personal Narrative. -- The Dunstan on Hartley's Visit. --Mr. Keddell. --Troubles of a Goldfields Commissioner. --Value of Wood. --Proclamation of the Dunstan Goldfield..........71
CHAPTER XI.
Conroy's. --Butcher's. --Blackman's. --Bannockburn. --Bendigo. --Nokomai. --Nevis. --Fox's Rush. --Cardrona. --The Arrow River Original Discoverers. --Maori Jack. --W. G. Rees. --McGregor and Low. --Cormack's Party. --The Shotover. --Arthur's Point. --Scarcity of Food. --Exports of Gold...........79
CHAPTER XII.
Moke and Moonlight. --Copper Ore. --The Story of Maori Point. --Value of Claims. --Blacks. --Mount Ida. --Serpentine. --Mullocky and Hindon. --The Story of Hamilton's. --Mining Population in 1864. --Gold Found near Dunedin. --Chain Hills, Waitati, and Mary Hill. --Beach Workings. --The Blue Spur and Tinkers. --Old Prospectors..............86
ADDITIONAL CHAPTERS.
CHAPTER I.
Black Peter's First Mate. --A Cosmopolitan Party. --Mr. Gascoigne. -- Experiences of an Early Pioneer. --"California Jim."--My First Official Visit to the Goldfields.................95
CHAPTER II.
Episodes of the Dunstan Rush. --Campbell's Gully. --The Old Man Range. --The Molyneux. --The Nevis. --Snow Poles. --Scurvy. --Frost-bite.............101
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CHAPTER III.
How Fox was Found. --Mr. John Cormack. --Gabriel Read at Dunstan. -- The Arrow. --Fox's Lair. --One hundred and ten Pounds Weight of Gold in Four Weeks...........105
CHAPTER IV.
Goldmining, Ancient and Modern. --Sluicing. --Dredging. --Quartz Lodes...........110
APPENDICES.
A --Maori Names for Gold.......... 121
B --Gabriel Read's Narrative......... 122
C --Waipori Bush Reserve.......... 131
D --Hartley's Victorian Miner......... 131
E --Official Report........... 132
F --Jackson's Bay........... 133
G --Water Races at Blue Spur......... 135
H --Blue Spur............ 138
I --Snow Poles............ 140
K --The First Mining Conference........ 141
L --Nuggets............ 145
M --Agricultural Settlement on the Goldfields... ...146
N --West Coast Exploration......... 148
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
GABRIEL'S GULLY IN 1862 ........Facing Title
VINCENT PYKE...........32
MAJOR RICHARDSON.........48
GABRIEL READ... ......64
CAPTAIN BALDWIN..... 80
BLACK PETER..........96
MEMBERS OF FIRST MINING CONFERENCE... 144
