New Zealand goldmining in the Otago region.

They went to New Zealand

Gold miners are an ever moving bunch, the gold petered out or they didn't strike it lucky straight away. Then as the dreams weren't realised, they moved on. So they came from California to Australia and from there to New Zealand. Then some went back, some stayed and some moved on to "greener pastures".

Listed below are a number of Extractions taken from the Creswick and Clunes Advertiser of 1863 which relate to migration that occured during the rush to New Zealand from Victoria, Australia.

22 July 1863 - page 2
Mr Samuel Moyle, of Cambridge street, for some time manager of the Frenchman�s Quartz Mining Company, whose return from New Zealand we mentioned in our Wednesday�s issue, has kindly furnished us with some particulars of New Zealand life, which will be perused with interest by our readers. Mr Moyle and party for three months worked at the Woolshed on private property, where at some expense they built a waterwheel, but not being able to get water enough to drive the machinery they gave it up as a failure. A few parties at work there are doing well. For about six months up to the 15th of June, Mr Moyle resided at the Shotover, a highly picturesque locality, surrounded by lofty mountains, where in the ravines the sun during the day is on an average only visible for about four hours viz., from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The bed of river was not workable. At one time it rose 11 feet in five hours, and from the 1st of May to 15th of June altogether four times, carrying away bridges and even strong horses. It is doubtful whether the miners will be able to work the river bed during the season.. The Shotover runs into the Kawarau, the Kawarau into the Molyneux. About four months ago miners working for wages made �9 per man per week, whilst provisions cost from �3 to �3 10s per week; now although wages are reduced, men can still earn �6 per week, and rations are obtainable at from �2 10s per week. There is a great scarcity of vegetables. On one occasion our informant had to pay half-a-crown for seven potatoes. Several people suffer from scurvy, and had to be removed to the Dunstan Hospital. Flour which was 2s per lb. can now be had at 5d. Beef, 1s 5d per lb. The winter begins to tell on some people, whose toes are frostbitten; even a few working on the roads complained of similar mishaps. Snow is falling at intervals, and makes the scene look much like Old England. Some parties working at the Shotover obtained from 80 to 100 lbs. Weight of gold, but it must be overlooked that at the same time there are hundreds of people who having shepherded so long without result, are really hard up. The shafts are from 2 to 40 feet deep. It is not unusual to see people at work 200 feet above the level of the river, in the cliffs, and obtaining payable gold. Most of the diggers have tents; some, slab huts thatched with grass. Firewood on the Shotover is not so scarce as about the Dunstan, it is sold at �4 10s to �5 per cord. There are even fine patches of timber, used for making sluice-boxes. Some parties have been shepherding at the Shotover five months, cutting races to turn the river, which was down to within a foot of their wishes, when the flood came destroying all the previous work, and carrying away timber 40 feet long, and doing considerable damage in addition. Other parties have shepherded at the Molyneux for about nine months without success, and it is doubtful whether they will be able to work the river-bed this season. The gold on the lower portion of the Shotover is nearly all obtained from a false bottom (mostly fine gold), but higher up, as far as Skipper�s Rush, the gold is taken from a slaty bottom, similar to that in Victoria; it is rough and nuggety. About twenty miles from Shotover the moa is supposed to have been seen; and near the Dunstan, close to the pathway, large quantities of bones are shown as the remains of the monster bird, looking like the bones of an ox. From Queenstown to Shotover is a distance of five miles and a half; from Fox�s, 17 miles. Form the head of the Lake to Queenstown, 30 miles; from Queenstown to Kingstown, 30 miles. The river extends 40 miles towards the west coast, and about 8 miles to where it empties into the Kawarau, forming a T. Mr Moyle reached Kingstown from Queenstown, per steamer, in four hours, thence started in a six-horse waggon for Dunedin, where he arrived in eight days. The enterprising firm of Cobb and Co. are doing the trip in three days, charging �8 per head, a fare which businessmen, considering the saving of time, willingly pay. The Government has laid out and nearly finished a road from Dunedin by the Dunstan to Fox�s (Arrow river). It is now passable for drays for about 130 miles. There are three different roads to the upper diggings (the Lakes). The shortest is by Invercargill, Southland, from 75 to 80 miles; the second from Dunedin by the Molyneux ferry, about 240 miles; the third by the West Tiara through the Dunstan, thence to Fox�s and Frankton, about 215 miles. The best route for Kingstown will in future be by way of Invercargill, which is a rising town. Queenstown will be the head quarters on the Shotover. Communications with parties living higher up the river in the Mountain gorges are rather difficult, and provisions and other necessaries are now being carried on packhorses a distance of 50 miles. Rats and mice are so plentiful in Queenstown that a man is reported to have killed 500 in one day. A baker killed 21 during a night with a trap. Miners are disagreeably disturbed during their rest by rats, the animals making it a practice to run over the faces, in addition to spoiling provisions; on one occasion they had eaten four sperm candles during the night and brought playing cards in exchange. A man is exhibiting rats at Queenstown and allows them to fight with dogs and cats brought for that purpose. The entrance to the exhibition is 2s 6d. There is even betting going on the same time and the dog which can kill the largest number of vermin carries the day. Horses are now so plentiful that several parties could not sell at a reasonable price and preferred to let them run in a paddock, paying 2s 5d per week for the accommodation, in preference to selling them at a loss. Drays with horses cannot find employment for the present. About three months ago cartage from Dunedin to the lakes was �100 per ton. Now it is �30 per ton. There were severe storms at Queenstown. During the first week in June one-sixth of the wooden houses were blown down; the roof of the Catholic Chapel was taken off; also some of the hotels, and Thatcher�s house suffered more or less. The mail steamer on the lake was sunk by the gale, but no lives were lost. Mr Pearce, of Clunes, son-in-law to Mr Knucky, and Mr Pengilly, after an absence of one year and nine months, Mr Lee, baker, and Mr Pollard, jun., of Melbourne-road, also lately returned from New Zealand have no reason to regret th4 trip. A good many Creswick people are still in New Zealand. Mr Pobjoy was shepherding a claim on the Shotover; Mr Shorthouse was in a store at Queenstown with a good salary, and Mr McLeod, formerly of Albert Street, has accepted an appointment in a store known as the �Melbourne House,� Princes Street, Dunedin. The latter town has greatly improved, substantial places of business are being erected and as a sign of progress the Otago Witness printing office is mentioned, which about 18 months ago was only in a tent, whilst business is now being carried on in a fine brick building. Those who proceed to New Zealand have to undergo a great many hardships, especially the travelling miners, who have often to carry swags weighing from 60lb to 70lb for several weeks, in addition to being exposed to the inclemency of the weather, and those who are getting gold have to work hard for it.
24 Aug 1863
Original Poetry
The return from New Zealand
I told you all some time ago
That I would to New Zealand go,
I had made up my mind;
It was the place to find the gold,
�Twould beat Victoria twenty-fold,
And leave her far behind.
And fortune did reward my pluck,
And gave me lots of golden luck
Within a river claim;
In which I�ve worked with all my might,
Upon that ground both day and night
For to secure the same.
I don�t mean for to secure the ground,
But gold which in it might be found,
That was my firm desire;
And golden hopes did warm my heart
In place of grog, and did in part
Make up for want of fire.
And now I�ve got all that I can,
I am returned a wiser man
Than when I left the Creek;
And if I could that time redeem,
In river claims I�d not be seen,
Or for such treasures seek.
While I was heaping treasure up,
I deeply drank of misery�s cup,
And heaped up anguish too.
That heap of gold that looked so pure
Bound me in bonds I can�t endure,
But yet I can�t undo.
My wasted form and pallid cheek
To some extent my suffering speak,
But none can tell but I
The bitter suffering which I feel,
Though still endeavoring to conceal,
While yet I long to die.
O gracious powers, restore my health,
But scatter wide my worthless wealth,
My golden bonds undo;
Release me both of gold and pain,
I would be happy once again
And be contented too.
Anon
26 Aug 1863
New Zealand
By the Aldinga we received our files up to the 14th August.
The Dunstan Hospital is opened and fifty beds are filled.
There has been a great loss of lives through landslips and floods, and as there are many miners from Creswick, Bald Hills, and neighborhood at present in New Zealand we give for their information of their relatives the names of those who were killed, viz. At the Sand Hills, Shotover - John Fraser, William Wilson, Samuel Wilson, William Cummins, George Jack, James Allan, Joseph Mortimer, John Hornbuckle, Samuel Gretton, Peter Hunter, David Angus, on e name unknown. Patrick Gleeson, drowned while attempting to cross the Shotover when flooded. At the Shotover, four miles above Moke Creek. - William Bell, Alexander McIntosh, aged thirty-six, native of Scotland; Michael Townsend, aged twenty-seven, native of Cullen, county of Kilkenny; Richard Alyward, aged twenty-six, county of Kilkenny; Michael Cudohy, aged twenty-four, Cullen, County Kilkenny; J McDonald, Skippers Gully, a tributary of the Shotover. - Timothy Sheehan (or Yankee Sheehan), native of Ardcanought, county Kerry; Eugene Mcmahon, native of Manor, Tralee, county Kerry. Above Arthurs�s Point, near Moke Creek, Shotover. - John Lynch, Michael Lynch (brothers), Thomas Noonan, Michael Egan, native of Clonrush, Whitegate, Galway, Ireland; James Kelly, Patrick Murnin, Patrick Travers, Jehn McWhirney, Robert Weir, William McAllen, Charles Wilkinson, native of Ireland. At the Arrow. - Wm. Burke, Jno. Brons, J Brown; one, only known by the name of Fred; and one man, name unknown. Injured: Andrew Gray, Andrew Guthrie, David Drew, Edward Hyld.
9 Sep 1863
Fifty miners at the separation Creek were hard up through want of Provisions, having had to subsist on tea for three days. Some tents were covered with snow drift six to eight feet high. A man named John Miner, 23 years old, five feet seven inches high, brown hair, light whiskers, a native of the county of Monaghan, Ireland, is missing. He is supposed to have perished in the snow. In the neighboring mountains of the Dunstan men and women are dying from broth cold and want. In a gully between the Deep Stream and Drunken Woman�s Creek eighteen persons, including women and children, were buried up in snow; it was next to impossible to render assistance. At one place a community of 400 people are represented to be snowed up without provisions and without any possibility of reaching them. Travellers, in order to save their lives, have in many instances abandoned their swags and pack-horses.
The Otago Witness states that John Tippins and mates have given information to the police that through an avalanche of snow, 50 feet high, forty miners covered at Serpentine Gully, ten miles from the Black Ball Hotel, on a branch of the Dunstan diggings.
11 Sep 1863
The Dunstan News mentions that the track to Campbell�s is impassable tin places, the snow being over ten feet deep. Passengers travelling by Cobb�s coach had to proceed, shovels in hand, to clear the road. Several men were found in a pitiable state, their feet being frost-bitten, necessitating amputation. Inquests were also held on several persons killed through exposure to cold.
The Holburn correspondent of the Dunstan News reports that the weather has lately been unfavorable for mining operations. The new diggings are officially proclaimed the Mount Ida gold-fields.
It is always a subject for congratulation to be able from time to time to chronicle not only extensions of the business of Dunedin merchants, but also the establishment in this city of branches of Melbourne and Sydney firms of recognised standing. Among the latest and most welcome additions in t his way, we notice that Messrs. Lange and Thoneman, importers, of Melbourne, and who have already branch establishments on Avoca and Creswick, have purchase, through the agency of Messrs. Gillies and Street, the stores adjoining those of R Wilson and Co., in Stafford-street. We are informed that it is the intention of Messrs Lange and Thoneman to partially rebuild the premises, so as to afford every facility for the carrying on of an extensive business.
22 Sep 1863
Since my last we have had very heavy showers of snow, more especially in the Dunstan ranges, where it has fallen to a tremendous depth, causing great suffering and loss of life. Many have already been found dead on the ranges, and the Dunstan Hospital is full to overflowing with the victims who have been carried in half dead, some to linger for a while, and others to survive as cripples for life; amputation of limbs in most cases being necessary to prevent mortification which follows in consequence of too much exposure Up to the present time no tidings have reached us of the large number of men, women and children who are snowed in at Campbells. When we last heard from them there was scarcely a week�s provisions in the place, in fact we almost tremble to anticipate the horrors that are likely to present themselves, when the relieving parties arrive at the scene of suffering. It is indeed a painful consideration as some of our dearest friends may be among the sufferers, who, perhaps, will find a grave in that cold mount gorge. This has been a very eventful winter and fraught with much disappointment to the diggers, and it is to be feared that the revelations of death and suffering that may yet be made will add a melancholy chapter to the history of the New Zealand goldfields; but we would fairly entertain the hope that the consequences will not prove so disastrous as circumstances lead us to believe.
Before closing this letter it becomes my painful duty to report the death of a young man, who is well known on Creswick by the name of Glen.* He was formerly in the employ of Mr McCormick, hay and corn merchant of your town. The news of his death was received through one of his mates, who informs me that he had been to a public house somewhere on the Molyneux, and not coming home that night search was made for him next morning, when he was found frozen to death on top of a hill. He is a Canadian by birth, and if any one on Creswick can give you his christian name you would do a kindness by requesting the Canadian papers to copy.
[*We have ascertained that Glen�s real name was David Glendinning. He was the son of Thomas Glendinning of Chatham, County Kent, Canada West.]
28 October 1863
From a Correspondent
Junction Coal Pit Tuapeka
To give a detailed account of the present state of affairs on these gold-fields would be more painful than interesting. Rumors of fresh discoveries are of every day occurrence, not so much the discoveries of rich gold-fields as the discovery of the dead bodies of those who have been in search of such. The inhabitants of the up-country districts have all more or less suffered from the severity of the winter, and the full amount of suffering remains yet to be ascertained, for the snow is still so deep as to render the mountain passes inaccessible, but, so far as parties have been able to penetrate, instances of those who have perished battling with the storm are still being brought to light. With such reports ringing in our ears we cannot expect to hear of any very extended prospecting, as it is not safe to venture far beyond the limits of the settlements. In the meantime both business and digging are rather dull. The diggers are impatient to get away from the older diggings, where at present they are obliged to stop, and work for what they can get. Some, however, are doing very well, whole others are making small wages, and a certain number are making tucker.
A new rush has taken place about 20 miles from Dunedin, on the west Taieri road. The news reached here late last night, and this morning at daybreak hundreds were on their way to the scene of action. The prospects obtained are reported to be from one grain to one ounce to the tin dish, but I shall not endorse the report until it is better authenticated.
For a few weeks past the weather has been comparatively fine, some of the days recalling faint memories of a Victorian clime, but in this climate the weather changes very suddenly. I have seen the finest summer day followed by a winter storm, so that no confidence can be placed in the weather until the season is well advanced, a circumstance which is very much against mining pursuits, the time being so short that but a limited number of districts can be prospected with safety. Until such districts are opened up by settlement, mining pursuits cannot be followed up with any certainty. As regards mining interests here compared with those of Victoria - at the present moment there is but little choice. From personal experience, and all I can learn through correspondence, if I were digging in Victoria I would not leave to come here, nor would I leave here to go to Victoria, except it was to pay a visit to Creswick in honor of former times.

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