A Narrative of the Discovery of the West Coast Gold-Fields

Front matter

A NARRATIVE

OF THE

DISCOVERY

Chapter I

Discovery of the Buller Gold-Field—First Expedition to the Buller.

As it may perhaps be interesting to the public to know something of the early history of the Nelson South-west Gold-fields, I have drawn up the following account of the events which led to their discovery and development.

As there have been many different stories in connection with the discovery, and also many claimants for the discovery of the various districts that in reality are not correct, I therefore in the following narrative shall endeavour to give as far as possible the correct names of the principal pioneers, together with a detail of incidents exactly as they occurred.

On or about the month of May, 1860, I was on the Collingwood gold-fields, distant about seventy miles from Nelson, when a party of Maoris came overland from the River Buller by travelling up the sea coast, and thence by the Aorere to Collingwood (there being no other way for them to come in those days), bringing with them a parcel of gold, which they said they had obtained from a place some twenty miles up the River Buller.

When this gold, which was a splendid sample, was shewn to me, I immediately conceived the idea of going on a prospecting expedition to "that outlandish country," as it was termed by the Nelson people. Accordingly, I, together with some others who were favourable to the project, called a meeting of the diggers to lay my plan before them. I received a great many promises, and made sure that we should get a good meeting, but when the day came I was surprised to find that only one, Mr. Saunders Rogers, attended. My plan was that there should be a party of not less than twelve, who should each pay £20 towards chartering a small vessel and purchasing provisions sufficient to last for three months, and longer, if necessary. Finding, however, that Rogers only attended the meeting, and having great confidence in the undertaking, I resolved to take the whole upon myself, and with this view Rogers went across to Nelson, and chartered the ketch Jane, Jacobsen, master, for the sum of £50 (the Jane had not long been turned off the stocks.) She was to call at Collingwood on her way down.

The people of Nelson laughed at our undertaking, saying that I and my companion were madmen from Victoria. The consequence was we only got one passenger from Nelson, and I believe he was in some way connected with the Government, but we got fourteen from Collingwood.

You may be well assured that the business people of Collingwood were not very thankful to us for taking the diggers away from their locality; but it mattered little to us, we had taken the field for adventure, and cared not a jot for the thoughts of any.

We started from Collingwood with a light breeze, which soon brought us well up to the Sandspit, in nearing which we unfortunately got ashore, but without sustaining any damage, or suffering any great loss of time, as the sea was perfectly smooth.

Various were the suggestions made by those on board as to the best method of getting the ketch off. One, who was evidently not suffering from hunger, proposed throwing all the provisions overboard to lighten her; another rather waggishly observed, that he thought it was nearly time for all hands to get out and walk; but, nevertheless, while these jokes were being passed round, we, after a little trouble, having plenty of help at hand, soon got our craft afloat again.

Besides the human cargo, we also had ten four-footed passengers on board, in the shape of cats. I have a slight notion that some Collingwood housewives made their silvery voices echo in vain with the cry of “puss” over the dancing waters of the bay, the day following our departure.

We arrived off the Buller in two days. When we entered at high water, we found three and a-half fathoms on the bar. We had not long been there before I sold all my goods for gold to the Maoris. It appeared that a lot of the Collingwood natives, knowing that I was going to take round provisions, started overland with two white men, and were at the Buller when we arrived with the vessel. They were catching fish and gathering pipis, on the first river north of the Buller, named by them at the time Orawaiti, meaning, “Come on, Waite,” because they could see the vessel approaching, and were in want of provisions.

Before starting back to Nelson, I and Mr. Frederick Berry, of Collingwood, with the mate of the Jane, John Duncan, tried to get up the river with the Jane’s boat, but the fresh was too heavy to get very far on the first day. I shall always remember that first day’s journey. It came on to rain hard, and the river, already swollen, began to rise considerably so that we had to keep on until we got to what we thought was a place of safety. By this time it was quite dark, and the bushes being wet and very thick with supplejacks and lawyers, we could not get very far into the thicket, and so we had to make the best of a bad bargain. We stood upright, all this cold June night, with our blankets wringing wet over our shoulders, our clothes in the same condition. We had no fire—the rain was pouring down incessantly—and the water was up to our ancles; we had to keep dabbling our feet about all night to keep the blood in circulation. Then, as back to back we leant against the forest pine, we took to singing. Oh, the long hours of that dreary winter’s night still make me shiver at the recollection! I remember obliging them with a song named the “Gipsy Tent,” when from my tall friend, under whose lee I had got for shelter, came forth a dismal sound in mournful cadence, the trembling accents of which seemed to be wrung from the bottom of his very boots: “O-oh what a pret-ty-so-song that would be-e-e under dif-if-erent—cir-cir-cum-st-tances.” Then next we talked of something nice, such as sucking-pig, or the savoury duck; then again my long companion, in sepulchral tones that floated away on the night breeze, muttered a long, imploring “O-oh—do-don’t!” that seemed as if the very thoughts of comfort struck with a chill to his heart. Doubtless he was chilled enough, and prepared to live the misery down, rather than speculate on bright and happier moments; but still it added mirth to our miserable plight, and enabled us to while away the chilly hours of the night. But daylight at last appeared, and a welcome sight it was; we again commenced our journey with cheerful hearts, for the labour put warmth into our bodies.

For four days we struggled against the elements, striving to gain the place where the gold had been found by the Maoris, but in vain; we made but poor headway, for the Buller of 1860 was very different to the Buller of to-day. Being in the water all day, and having wet blankets at night, we were at length compelled to give up, after having camped on the banks of the river two or three days to await its falling.

To show the strength of the current, I will mention that on the return journey we were only two hours accomplishing that which in the ascent, occupied four days. Shooting the falls astonished our nerves a bit, and almost made our hair stand upright. Neither I nor my companions had ever been over any like them before, but I have taken them scores of times since without any fear.

When we arrived at the port Mr. Rogers told me that some Maoris had been up the River Waimangaroa, where they had found gold, and that they had brought down a small nugget. We could not at that time stop to get any further intelligence, as our provisions were nearly out, and I was anxious to get back to Nelson for a fresh supply. We made an arrangement, however, with Mr. Rogers to show us a white cloth if the Maoris brought any good news while our vessel was still in sight, which he did. To our misfortune, we were sixteen days going up to Nelson; the little vessel stood the buffeting of the waves first-rate, though never since I have travelled to the West Coast have I been to sea in such weather as we had that trip up to Nelson. For several days we were hove-to, and our craft drifted down to nearly off the Grey River. One night we were so close on rocks that we could almost touch them. If we had gone on them at that time nothing could have saved us, and there would have been, I am thinking, no more gold hunting for some time on the River Buller. By the cool management, however, of the two men, Jacobsen and Duncan, we succeeded in steering clear of the rocks. There was no one on the coast then; and, even though we had been saved, the men left at the Buller must have starved, as there was no overland road as there is now.

At length, however, we arrived in Nelson, and it was not long before the Buller gold-field became the leading topic of conversation; and when the gold I had brought up was put in the window of Mr. Drew, the jeweller, there were plenty of people who thought it worth their attention. Nothing was then said of the “madman from Victoria;” they were all very anxious to have some conversation with “the madman,” as they chose to call me. Many who were the first to stamp the expedition as a costly hair-brained enterprise, were now the first to ply their avocations, and hurry to the new found “El Dorado.” But such is the world, more especially the Nelson world, where in striving to pick up a penny, they invariably drop a sovereign. Greedy to a fault, but unwilling to expend that which is necessary for the advancement of the place, they lose the golden opportunity, which for years may not again come within their reach, and then for ever pine over that which might have been accomplished but for the niggardly save-all propensities of their ruling powers. I do not by this mean to brand all the community, but only some, who if they would look to higher ends might attain a loftier position in the opinion of their fellow men than that which they now hold.

But to return to my theme. This first expedition was the commencement of the now world-renowned West Coast gold-fields, though in consequence of the recent discovery of the Otago gold-fields a considerable time elapsed before any great movement was made in the matter.

CHAPTER II. First Steamer to the Grey—the Greenstone—and Consequences

A considerable time had now elapsed, nearly two years, in fact, since the first expedition arrived at the Buller, and commenced the work of gradually opening up a densely wooded and difficult country, fraught with countless obstacles, and presenting to the pioneer vicissitudes of the direst nature, and as yet no great progress had been made; but still, through the indomitable perseverance of the different parties in bravely overcoming all difficulties, things were beginning to assume a more forward state when the first large influx of diggers soon tended to hasten the development of the gold-field, and bring it under the notice of the more distant colonies.

In the month of January, 1862, the steamer Tasmanian Maid, Captain Whitwell, came from Otago with a great number of diggers from that province. The Tasmanian Maid was the first steamer on the coast, but she did not continue running. Then gold was obtained more abundantly from the Waimangaroa, and from the first diggings up the Buller river. Very often there were scarcely any provisions to be had on the diggings, as only one vessel, the Gipsy, was at this time trading there, and she would sometimes be six weeks away, and we could get no other vessel to trade, such a dread had they of the dangerous coast. On one trip, indeed, the Gipsy was actually away thirteen weeks! I happened to be on board of her on that occasion; and we were six weeks at sea on the return voyage to Nelson. We entered every harbour in Blind Bay—Port Hardy three times, and West Wanganui twice. While we were at the last-named place, William Hunter, and some Maoris, who had travelled overland by the coast, came on board just as we were putting to sea again, and right glad they were to see us. They were the bearers of the news to the Superintendent that we were supposed to be “lost,” and of a request that he would send some provisions down, as all the “people at the Buller were starving.” How we wished for a fair wind then; I slept neither night nor day; and when we came off Rocks Point a sou’-wester met us again, and when off the Karamea, or between that river and the Mokihinui, we were becalmed two days. These were trying times when the vessel, full of provisions, was in sight of the two or three hundred diggers almost starving, and yet could not reach them. At length a light breeze brought us off the Buller, and we could plainly hear their shouts of “Welcome,” on shore. A south-east wind is a head wind to go into the Buller, but our captain (Captain M’Cann) launched his little dingy on the bar, to carry out a kedge. After we had got as close as we could, we hove manfully on the windlass, and worked her over the bar amidst the clamour and cheers of the hungry diggers who were watching us. While we were still in the roll of the sea canoes came alongside; off went the hatches, and out went the flour and other provisions. A line was taken ashore, and lots of eager hands were ready to pull. There had been a whaleboat there, belonging to the Maoris, but she had been started off to Nelson by sea, and a letter forwarded by Mrs. Waite to the Superintendent, praying him to send a steamer at once. The whaleboat reached Nelson without seeing us, which caused some excitement in the town. The Superintendent, Mr. Robinson, promptly replied to the letter, by sending the steamer Storm Bird, with Mr. Burnett in charge, but we had succeeded in getting in before she arrived; nevertheless our small community were truly grateful for the prompt measures taken to render succour in the hour of distress, and it also shewed how different is the course of action pursued by different heads of power, in giving their attention to the welfare of the subject. When I got ashore, I found the baker already making dampers in his oven, for when he saw the vessel so close, he lit his fire for baking. Mrs. Waite had offered a pound to the first man who brought the news that the vessel was in sight. There were eight claimants for the pound, so they got a pound of potatoes each, which was as good to them as a pound note. For a long time there had been nothing but potatoes left, and of these there was a scarcity; money or no money, one man got no more than another, and that was only about a pound a day. Imagine then the luxury it must have been to the half-famished beings to see within their reach the long-looked for objects of their hopes, worth more at the time than all the gold in the district. Imagine the watery mouths, and countless visions of hot dampers and baked potatoes; then at night the peaceful slumbers and dreams of brighter days, after the boundless pleasure of having one good feed in three months. Oh! none can really appreciate the luxury of a good meal, unless they have sorely suffered from the want of it; not merely for a day or so as some of our easy gentlemen may chance to do while sporting—that merely sharpens the appetite—but for weeks and weeks, as often fell to our lot in the early days of the coast. The diggers had scattered themselves along the coast with the Maoris, getting mussels and other native food. The Maoris deserve great praise for the help they gave by bringing in lots of eels, nikau, pipis, &c., which they gave away freely to the pakehas. As soon as the natives along the coast saw the vessel, they all made their way to the port. All my poultry had been killed, and the pigs, goats, and some cows. Some three cows were spared, because there were white women and children on the Buller, and these three cows were left on account of the milk they were giving. There was a lot of damaged flour, which had turned quite yellow and musty, that was intended for pigs, but it all went for bread. Such was the state of the Buller in October and November, 1862.

Soon after the above events, a Maori, named Simon, discovered the Lyell Creek, which, while it lasted, was a very rich diggings, and turned out some of the finest nuggets found in New Zealand. There is a large manuka flat on the right bank of the Lyell, and I believe that if this was properly tried—which it never has been up to this time—it would turn out a good gold-field. I have had many opportunities of seeing it, having been across it several times, and I am of opinion that the gold found in the Lyell has come from this flat. It is a made terrace, with gravel a little below the top soil, similar to Waite's, and is of considerable extent.

I may mention that just about this time a great many men came overland from Canterbury, by way of the Grey. These poor fellows were in such an emaciated state that they were scarcely able to crawl, and it was pitiable to see them. Several were left behind to starve, as they could not walk any farther, while their mates just managed to get through to the Buller and report it. I sent several parties out to fetch in those who had been left behind. Amongst them was Hammett, the survivor of Howitt's party, which was lost on the Lakes whilst exploring. The poor fellow had gone into the bush, as he said, to lie down and die, for he could not walk. He had a dog with him, which would bring him a wood-hen now and then, and he had to eat it raw. He stated that he had been living on the raw glutinous stuff he called beche-de-mer for several days. The first party I sent out did not find him, after being away four days, but they no sooner came back than I despatched another party of four men, with instructions how to act if they found him alive. These last four men took with them a gun, powder and shot, and provisions for a week, with oatmeal, brandy, &c., and they followed my instructions to fire the gun at intervals of a quarter of an hour. By this means they found the poor fellow, who, hearing the report of a gun, crawled out of the bush within sight of the party. After resting for a time, and giving him some refreshment, they managed to bring him on to the Buller. I then paid his passage to Nelson, and gave him a letter to the Superintendent, who forwarded him on to Canterbury. For this the munificent Canterbury Government, thinking, I suppose, that I was hard up, sent £5 to the Superintendent of Nelson for me. One poor fellow I sent for, was found contentedly sitting on a mussel-bed eating raw mussels, and playing at ducks and drakes with the shells; he considered he was in clover, for he had not had anything to eat for several days. Another, who was travelling the same road, when all his provisions were gone, consoled himself by reading a cookery-book which he had with him. He must have been a martyr! a true philoso ! sitting down in the wilderness to study the art of starvation from the leaves of a cookery-book. What a splendid example for some who roll in luxury, knowing little and caring less what others endure who are in reality making fortunes for them to their own loss, and who afterwards are the first to spurn and trample on the hands that held them up. I almost despaired of one man, who was so weak when they brought him in to the Buller that I did not think he would recover, but by a little care we brought him round, and to this day he is grateful to me for the attention shown to him, which I value more than the above £5.

Early in the year 1863, a lot of Maoris came to the Buller overland from the Grey. I say "overland," although their style of travelling from the one river to the other was by going up the Grey or Mawhera in a canoe as far as the Little Grey or Mawhera-iti, and up that river to its head. There they would haul up the canoe out of the way of the freshets, and walk over the saddle; on the other side they had another canoe, which they always kept there, and thence they went down the Inangahua into the Buller, and down the Buller to its mouth. These Maoris had with them some very nice pieces of gold, which they said they had got in the Grey district. After I had sent parties out to prospect, by supplying them with provisions, about the Buller district, I wrote a letter to the Superintendent of the Canterbury province, asking what bonus he would give for the discovery of a payable gold-field on the western, or Grey district of that province. Four months afterwards, or thereabout, I received an answer that the Government was not prepared to give any bonus for that district, as it would be of no benefit to Christchurch! However, before I had received the answer from Christchurch, I had made arrangements with the captain of the cutter Thames to go down from Nelson to the Grey, but while he was getting his vessel ready for the trip, the Havelock diggings opened; and as he got plenty of work for the vessel there without so much risk, he kept her in that trade. We were also left without a vessel for the Buller, as our old trader, the Gipsy, had been wrecked on the coast, and her crew compelled to follow up the beach until they arrived at the mouth of the Buller river; consequently, I had to walk overland to Nelson, carrying with me a heavy parcel of gold, a distance of 150 miles, in the month of June—the very depth of winter, over a fearful road that is beyond description. It may help to form an idea of what it was like, when I state that it was a perfect treat, on coming to a river, to wade through and wash the mud off our legs.

While I was in Nelson, preparing for the voyage to the Grey, a letter was brought to me by a Maori chief, named Tamati Pirimona, from the Grey, stating that they were anxiously looking for my vessel. I also received one from Mr. John Rochfort, to the same effect, but giving me poor encouragement about the gold. As, however, the Maoris were sanguine, I determined to try my luck. Two men started from the Buller to the Grey when they found I was likely to send a vessel down there, and these men pretended they had discovered the gold; another man, named Hunt, pretended he was the discoverer. When I arrived at the Grey, I found these fellows loafing amongst the Maoris. It was not these men who found the gold at all, but the Maoris; yet the former had the impudence to ask the Government of Canterbury for a bonus; in fact, I believe Hunt did get a bonus. As I have before stated, the Maoris had gold in their possession, which they had found at Teremakau long before Hunt was at the Grey. But I am going out of the straight track, so I will return to the chartering of the Thames.

Captain Garnes was in Nelson when I arrived there from the Buller, and I was about to charter him for the trip, but speaking to two or three about going down with me, the news soon got spread, and there being a great many diggers in Nelson at the time they wanted to go with me. The steamer Nelson had just then arrived from England, and the croakers were about to wind up the Nelson and Marlborough Steam Navigation Company, and would have done so had it not been that I offered to engage the steamer. Well, the company took her on, but would not charter her unless I would guarantee forty passengers at £3 per head. When I went with the money for more than forty, I was told that all over forty must pay £4 each; but with perseverance I managed to get them for £3. Perhaps it will be said, this has nothing to do with the opening of the gold-field; but I have written it to show through what penny-wise and pound-foolish ways Nelson has been brought to what it is, instead of being, what it ought to be, the grand emporium for the West Coast. But I suppose in the course of time the people of Nelson will become awake to the fact, that they must do something for the country, and not expect (as has hitherto been the case) that the country will do everything for them. Many other places have suffered severely through neglecting to take advantage of the golden opportunity when it offered itself, and doubtless Nelson will pass through the same fiery ordeal, to suddenly awake a fresh and different place.

Well, we started in the good steamship Nelson, from Nelson, in the middle of July, 1864, with a cargo of provisions, and every requisite for the diggings. From my long experience on goldfields I knew exactly what was wanted; the diggers took no tools (as it was only a prospecting trip) or provisions from Nelson, and were satisfied with my prices for all that was wanted. I may state, by-the-way, that things are higher in price at the present day on the coast than when I first went there. The Government of Nelson, finding I was going to the Grey, gave me a contract to procure for them forty tons of coal as a sample from the Grey coal mine, so I called into the Buller, and got two canoes, and five Maoris for that purpose. We had a very good run down, which was fortunate, as there was no sleeping room for all hands, about seventy being on board, some of whom were compelled to lie on the cargo, to my loss, for they “walked” into my bottled ale rather heavily. Great was the fun, and many were the practical jokes played on those unfortunate individuals who did happen to retire to the arms of Morpheus; some had the inside of their hands blackened, when, by tickling their faces with a feather, they immediately commenced a series of pantomimic gestures, tattooing themselves in the most grotesque fashion, to the great merriment of all the non-sleepers; then as they awoke one by one, and noticed the ludicrous sight of each other's faces, those in the joke beckoned them to keep the fun up, which they answered with knowing looks and half-smothered laughter, little dreaming, poor dupes, that their own faces were in the same ridiculous plight; thus we had the whole of the tattooed fraternity looking and grinning at each other, everyone imagining that he was enjoying a capital joke at his neighbour's expense. One at length, breaking into a genuine laugh, with difficulty exclaimed, “Poo—oop—oop—Jack! wash your face!” “You'd better do that!” from Jack, in the same strain, with general chorus from all hands. A dispute arose, in which the coloured gentlemen compared each other to various and sundry pretty things unmentionable, which was brought to a summary conclusion by the introduction of a looking glass, whereupon the mine exploded, and they unanimously decided upon taking revenge out of the balance of “Waite's bottled ale!” Thus we merrily passed the time until arriving at our destination; but a good beginning is often the precursor of a fatal end, and so it very nearly proved in this case, as will shortly be seen.

On arriving at the Grey, we entered it in first-rate style, and steamed up to the landing opposite to what is now called Mawhera-quay. Here we landed the goods, which were of course left exposed on the river beach, and all hands started off prospecting. My Maoris set cheerfully to work, and, with plenty of help, I soon managed to get up a temporary store. In the meantime, the goods were going out as fast as I could possibly sell them; ay, before I could get them out of the vessel the diggers were jumping down the hold for them. At the Maori pah there were none but women, and when they saw the steamer they could not tell what to make of it; it was the first steamer that was ever on the Grey. The Maori men had all gone to get gold, which made the white men all the more anxious to go, and before long I was left almost alone, all the diggers having gone to the Teremakau River, where the Maoris were digging, and with the exception of my storeman, and Mr. Batty, who came down with me to get the coal, there was no other white man left at the Grey.