E. Iveagh Lord

“ Westland is a land of contrasts. Wild rocky mountains lie reflected in placid lakes nestled in dense forest. The forests themselves, profuse in growth suggestive of tropical jungle, reach up and give welcome embrace to encroaching glaciers. As with its natural features so with its people. To-day they are a quiet industrious community—only yesterday they were a turbulent race of milling, struggling adventurers risking everything, even life itself, in the mad rushes of its goldfields. ”

“ The name of Seddon is written indelibly in the history of Westland, as it is in the annals of New Zealand, and the records of the Empire. Truly an outstanding leader, and one who had the power to sway a people and to bend them to his progressive ideas. From a tireless advocate of ideals and aspirations to one with the power to implement his thoughts and remedies for the ills of the masses, he passed into the highest sphere of his unique record—a humanist. ”

“ Lord has written changed into the Westland as we know it to-day. Nor has the quickening touch of gold quite forsaken it. Gone are the individual diggings, but huge dredges and other modern methods are employed in taking large quantities of gold from areas too slightly endowed for the cruder methods of the old days.
With this change in the outward condition of the West Coast it is inevitable that there should be a gradual change in its people. Those of us who were privileged to know the vanguard of that brave army of miners cherish memories of their simple virtues. ”

“ Despite the fact that the population of Westland was cosmopolitan to a marked degree, it was a law abiding, nay a straight laced, community when compared with that of some goldfields, where it was necessary for every man to carry a revolver, and two-gun men were ever a picturesque (and deadly) menace. There was but little serious crime on the West Coast, a gang of Australian bushrangers certainly, but the vigilance of the police soon drove them out of Westland, and into the hands of the Nelson authorities who, none the less alert, soon captured, convicted and hanged them. ”

“ Prospectors pushed up the rivers and streams, poured over terraces and hills, almost invariably meeting with a rich reward.
“Hokitika was the scene of the first great rush; and for a time numbers predominated there, Kanieri, Eight Mile, Big Paddock, Blue Spur, Waimea and numberless flats and gullies supporting a bustling, tireless population of many thousands. All along the beaches to Greymouth and up the Grey River, and thence to the Taramakau the busy hives of workers could be seen.”
Taken as a whole these diggers were splendid men, most of them in the morning of their manhood. ”

“ Men the world over, when faced up to fabulous quantities of the metal royal, become gold crazed and invariably love to parade their wealth before all mankind. As an extreme example of this form of madness it is on record that a goldfields storekeeper in Victoria actually had his horse shod with golden shoes, the weight of each of the four being over seven ounces.
The diggers as a class also spent a deal of money on personal adornment. Expensive rings, tie pins and watch chains of gold and greenstone were regarded as an outward and visible sign of prosperity. ”

“ By this time gold was being found almost everywhere and each and every day there was a rush in one direction or the other. As a matter of fact wherever new ground was tried it invariably proved payable, and it is utterly impossible to put on record every rush that took place; only the most important can be dealt with, and pride of place must be given at this time to the general exodus which took place from all parts of the goldfields to Jones’ Creek, which we to-day know as Ross. This town through the years has been the centre of various diggings, which were for the most part very rich. ”

“ History tells us that Abel Janszoon Tasman, the famous Dutch navigator, discovered New Zealand, sighting the coast of Westland on December 13th, 1642, and it is this Province, therefore, that first stands sharply silhouetted on the horizon of Dominion history. Tasman quaintly described Westland as “a great land uplifted high, not unlike the island of Formosa with its piles of rugged mountains.” ”

“ Known as West Canterbury, prior to attaining the dignity of being made a separate Province, Westland is bounded on the north by the Province of Nelson, on the south by the Province of Otago, on the east by the mighty Southern Alps, and on the west by the tempestuous Tasman Sea. It has an area of about 4,500 square miles, the greater part of which is high mountainous country, and bush clad to the snow line. In consequence of this the rainfall is profuse, heavy at times, but by no means continuous, periods of fine calm weather with bright sunshine being frequently experienced. ”

“ He mentioned, too, the fact that at this time two Maoris who had been digging at the Hohonu, hearing of the rush to the Hokitika River immediately jumped into a canoe, and coming down the Taramakau River actually crossed the bar and paddled sixteen miles south to the Hokitika River, which they in turn entered and proceeded to the rush. “They were gold-crazed,” said Hudson, “and knew not what they did. Fancy ‘working’ two treacherous bars in one day. Man alive, the odds were a million to one against working one, let alone two!” ”

“ The pioneers of Westland, in common with the pioneers of the whole of the Dominion, put service before personal safety, be the cost of that service what it may . . . . even life itself.
Proceeding, the parties kept together until they reached the Otira Stream, where Rochfort commenced his surveying operations, traversing the Taramakau to the Pakihi Plain, thence to Lake Brunner and then down the River Arnold to the Mawhera Pa. ”

“ The carrying out of these surveys necessarily meant the employment of several men, all of whom were keen prospectors, who, in bad weather, and during their leisure, did their utmost to locate gold, and thus gain the reward offered for the discovery of a payable field. Among those thus employed was a man named Albert William Hunt, a practical prospector, though a man of mystery who was destined to become, as this story will reveal, the stormy petrel of Old Westland, a veritable will-of-the-wisp, with an uncanny flair for finding the precious metal. ”

“ But, alas, history then repeated itself, for even as a woman had been the cause of driving Ngahue from the cradle lands of his people, which led to his discovery of greenstone, so was a woman, again through the same agency, the cause of the downfall of the Ngatiwairangi tribe. It so happened that the powerful northern tribe Ngai-Tahu, had completed the invasion of the East Coast of the South Island as far south as the Waitaki River, and were in occupation of the conquered territory. ”

“ That was indeed a thrilling episode in the history of the district and it leaves a romantic memory throughout the West Coast peopled now for the most part by the children and grandchildren of those hardy gold-seeking pioneers. Most of us even of this present generation have vivid recollections of the aftermath of the gold rushes of the sixties, of decaying mining hamlets now entirely disappeared but which so recently had been the centre of activities of thousands of miners. ”

“ Before the diggers came water fowl were very plentiful, and a canoe paddled quietly up stream could go by without causing much disturbance. It was charming to see the teal perched on half submerged logs, and the grey and paradise ducks paddling about among the smaller fowl.”
Despite the fact that game was thus found in abundance on the roaring rivers of Westland they were its greatest menace. The dangers of fearful alpine passes and trackless forests were bad enough, and many, many gallant men there laid down their lives, unhonoured and unsung. ”

“ Old Westland is dedicated to the memory of my Father and Mother, Edward Iveagh and Ellen Lord, and to my Aunt Francis Trim—who lives among us yet. Pioneers of the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand, they saw Old Westland at the zenith of its golden glory—when in the years of its first decade it yielded over 3,000,000 ounces of gold—adding (when most needed) £12,000,000 to the wealth of the then infant Colony. ”

“ Next morning they were early astir and in crossing a low hill Lauper slid about ten feet into the bed of the river. Whilst in the act of doing so, the bag in which he carried the biscuits caught in the branch of a tree, which tore it in two, and they lost half of their small store—a misfortune which had happened once before. They then reached a swampy place and had to make a circuit of many miles through dense scrub, which scratched and tore their hands and faces. Weary to death they lay down and were half frozen with cold that night, for they had not the energy to make a fire. ”

“ Preshaw tells us, “and I was busy all day buying gold. A short time after I got to bed (my saddle-bags under my head and my revolver at my side) ,” he continues, “three drunken men rushed in; one came close to me, took my hat from over my eyes, and said to the others, ‘By gad it’s the b——— banker; suppose we give him a crack on the head with a stick?” and off they went into the bar. I have often heard it said that when people are drowning the principal events of their lives pass through their brain. ”

“ A keen observer and a humorist in the full sense of the word, his contribution, long since out of print, to literature pertaining to the golden days of Westland, entitled, “Banking Under Difficulties or Life on the Goldfields,” is a most valuable one, and is, in fact, the only authentic record existent of the days immediately prior to the great rush. This being so, the next few pages are devoted entirely to his description of Westland from the date of his arrival to the coming of the Christmas Party to Hokitika on December 20th, 1864. ”

“ Several diggers, whom I presume to have been unfortunate, took to packing, and amongst others was Charles L. Money, known as “Charley the Packer,” and from whose book, “Knocking About in New Zealand,” I have extracted the following: “At this time the road from the beach up to the township, a distance of twelve miles, passing, as it did, the whole way through bush and thick undergrowth, and crossing and recrossing the creek every hundred yards, was in a condition perfectly inconceivable to those who have not been to the great rush on the West Coast diggings. ”

“ The men who came down with me, and were engaged in this business, were now only waiting for a steamer to take them away, but while they were so doing, two parties with more patience than the rest, had penetrated a little further up the country, and had found a track which led them to the Greenstone Creek diggings, having by chance, during their search, discovered the fresh prints of men’s feet which they followed until they came to the desired spot. Here they commenced
Canterbury-West Coast Road, 1866, changing horses at the Bealey Hotel. ”

“ It was on that pinnacle of his fame and power, that his life-work ended, and a great worker in the cause of humanity and his race, closed a memorable career, so often still recalled and reflected on for its breadth of vision and soundness of purpose for the common good. ”

“ Nineteen days after Mackay’s arrival at the pa, Von Haast and his party also reached that haven of refuge, in a starving condition, and that night for the first time in the history of Old Westland a party of white men—Mackay, Mackley, Von Haast and James Burnett—foregathered and ate to repletion of good life-giving food, so different from the fern root and occasional eel that the explorers had been forced for some time to subsist upon. ”

“ The winter of 1866 was as good as that of the previous year was bad, and vessels were able to work the ports of Hokitika and Greymouth continuously, with the result that food supplies were plentiful and not nearly as dear. It was now generally considered that the goldfields would last for a number of years, and many diggers were being joined by their wives and families. With the advent of spring road construction commenced in earnest, and a tramway was opened to Kanieri. Then came telegraphic communication with Christchurch, and Westland was no longer completely isolated. ”

“ Westland from the Grey River southwards presented, in 1863, a very different aspect from what it does at the present time. The whole of the country up to the snow line and down to the water’s edge was covered with thick forest. Every flood brought down to the sea great quantities of timber, which were thrown up on the beaches, and excepting where the Coast was rock bound the timber piled up in such vast masses that it was quite a climb to get over it into the bush beyond. ”

“ The Bank of New Zealand were quite alive to the importance of sending a man down to occupy the field, as they saw we were making preparations for so doing, and one of their staff, a young fellow named Walmsley, was a fellow passenger on this occasion.
“On our arrival we found the residents of the Grey in a state of great excitement, a new goldfield having been discovered at the Totara River, about forty miles southwards. It is necessary to mention here that the Grey River divides the provinces of Canterbury and Nelson. The diggings are on the Canterbury side. ”