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| Grinning through a horse collar British Museum AN517849001 |
Prosperity likely to be permanent.
Wednesday, 1 January
1868
Towards morning all is quiet at the Thames and the usual first foot* in is
accompanied by a friendly bottle and the congratulations of the season.
A large crowd begins assembling on part of the flat
bordering the left of the Hape Creek, where a stand and refreshment booths
have been erected in anticipation of the Caledonian games. The situation is the best in the district giving, from the height on which Mr Mackay’s house is built, an open view of
the ground. To those who don’t pay admission
to the stand this is a favourite spot. Here and there men who have their wives and families with them are parading themselves in the fashion of Christmas holiday seekers. Groups of
Maori of both sexes are squatting on the grass. In the Kauaeranga River there are 14 coasting
vessels, and steaming down the gulf the Tauranga and Enterprise can be seen on
their way to Auckland.
The stand has been built at the expense of the games committee, Captain Butt using the ground floor as a place of refreshment. On the right of the stand Messrs Mulligan and Sheenan have a large marquee and on the left, Mr Rose, of the Coach and Horses, provides ample room for those who might visit him. They each have their share of public patronage. At 11 o’clock the sports commence. There are races followed by a quoits match, running, high jump, vaulting with a pole, running, hop, step and jump, and standing, hop, step and jump.
At Auckland a Presbyterian meeting is held in St Andrews
church. There are thousands of persons
at the Thames goldfield, the meeting is told, and the Presbytery can only
supply one service a month. It is a
disgrace to the Presbytery that they cannot send more ministers to the
Thames district considering the number of Presbyterians there. A committee of Supply for the Thames Goldfields
states that the diggers who attend the services are most willing to contribute
to collections.
The New Zealand Herald notes that the past year has been one
of the most important in the history of the colony, the
general stagnation of trade and business, the general want of confidence, great
depreciation of property, the impoverished provincial government and the
opening of the Thames reefs are all important circumstances of an significant character and they all have an influence which will be long felt. “In fact 1867 seems to have been the beginning
of the end of systems and ideas which have been hitherto considered as of great
importance . . . the opening up of the Thames district we look upon as the
commencement of prosperity likely to be permanent.”
There has been steady increase in the monthly export of gold
from the Thames. The banks alone sent to Sydney in December 3113 oz as against
1200 oz sent away at the beginning of November.
This amount only represents the amount forwarded to Sydney by the banks
and does not include private parcels of gold sent elsewhere. Considering how very little increased
crushing machinery has been available to the miners during the past month,
the increased quantity of gold is highly satisfactory. It is still nearly all the produce of Berdan
crushing. There is still an enormous
demand for machinery.
The Caledonian games at the Thames rounds up with putting
the stone (20 lb) as the last event of the day.
Music and dancing is kept to until a late hour and the Tauranga, which
arrives this evening, receives several visitors from the shore, who partake of
Captain Sellars hospitality.
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| NZH 1 January, 1868 |
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| DSC 1 January, 1868 |
Thursday, 2 January
A strong nor’wester driving the rain in torrents blows
several tents down, Mr Burke’s hotel on the Waiotahi flat is much damaged, the
machine house of Scanlan and Co is thrown over to one side and the
printing office being built at the corner of Mackay and Pollen
Streets is blown down. Despite the state of
the weather the committee of the Caledonian games determines that the sports
should go on as many who are at the Thames have come a distance and remained in
town overnight.
The first event is throwing the hammer. The hornpipe, sword
dance and Highland Reel are postponed. The Hack Race disintegrates into a barney when some mistake
occurs from the horses having to go round the course four times. One of the spirited animals bolts into a flax
swamp, the stewards decide the race in favour of the same horse as the judge
had awarded the prize to and the barney turns into a protest.
Some men take a rope
that had been fixed round for the quoit and hammer throwing matches and run
it across the course, while one of the public
stands by with a big pole to “knock on the head any ------ man who
attempted to pull away the rope.”
It is now raining a perfect deluge and the stewards proclaim
there will be no more sports this day. The stewards and committee also say there will be no running
of another race tomorrow and another
disturbance starts. With no police force to enforce order, the stewards and the
committee vanish, leaving the public to do as it likes. The crowd soon afterwards takes possession of
the grandstand and volunteer amusements are kept up until
late in the afternoon.
During the afternoon
Chief Taipari invites several gentlemen to his new residence where he entertains them most courteously.
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|
House and garden of Chief Taipari, photographed in 1868 by Daniel Manders Beere Alexander Turnball Library Ref: 1/2-096134-G |
Late this evening the games committee meet at Mr Wallis’
hotel and decide to abide by their previous decision in the race case and to
resume the sports tomorrow morning.
Rangatira for the Thames with 1 case biscuit, ½ ton flour, 2
cases, 3 casks, buckets, 1 bundle, 10 sheep, 1 ton hay, 3 cases brandy, 20
sacks, 1 bottle quicksilver.
Every man of them shows muscle.
Friday, 3 January
The third day of the Thames sports begins with a whale boat
race, followed by the watermen's boat race. It is a rather fatiguing affair with the wind blowing great guns from the
south west.
A large canoe containing about 35 Maori now rounds
the point between Thames and the Kauaeranga.
These Maori are from Kirikiri and are to contend with the Parawai Maori
in the big event – the canoe race.
At 12.30 the two
canoes are laying alongside the starting boat.
Every Maori is stripped to the buff, a shawl wrapped round his
loins. With the exception of three or
four who are old men (though no less skilful than younger men in the use of the
paddle) every man of them shows a muscle that a prize fighter might envy. The crew poise their paddles and when the pistol fires the captains
of each canoe signals with his mere and away they go, head to head through a
rolling sea. They keep together for about
half a mile when a wave sweeps over the two canoes. The canoes are righted, the water bailed out, and after
sending some of the crew onshore, the race is continued.
Half the crews have been bailing nearly all the distance of
four miles. The Kirikiri canoe
succeeds in rounding the cutter Safety first.
In the other canoe Taipari is standing, urging his crew. The leading canoe nearly comes to grief
again. However it is righted and reaches
the landing place amidst the cheers of thousands on the banks. To the Europeans who have never seen how coolly a Maori
conducts himself under difficulty whilst in a boiling sea, the sight is riveting. The Maori are afterward
attended by their women, who give over their shawls.
The stewards now
proceed to the flat where a hack race is run for a scarf pin. Mr Murphy, of Coromandel, is knocked over by
a horse swerving from the course. He is
a good deal shaken.
The hurdle race
follows – the fences are taken in first rate style although some horses baulk
occasionally. The first steeplechase run
on the Thames goldfield is won by Tim Whiffler, owned by Dudley Eyre, the first
government surveyor on the Thames goldfield.
Tossing the cabar and dancing occupies about two hours, and then Chief Taipari announces that the Maori will perform a war dance and sing songs. The great dance is thought almost the best, and certainly the most novel part of the proceedings. The crowd never ceases cheering and ultimately buckets of Whitson’s beer are bailed out in pannikins to them.
Maori war dance, 1868 engraving.
Alamy stock photo
Another hack race is got up – the winner is a young boy who
rides his races with a skill beyond his years.
On leaving the course
for the township, the Maori insist in carrying Mr Mulligan on their shoulders
to the hotel where they sing to him one of their old songs. Mr Mulligan shouts drinks, and so the day
ends. The sports programme is not yet
exhausted though and the sports continue tomorrow.
Avon for the Thames with 1 ½ tons sugar, three tons flour, 10 kegs butter, 20 cases whisky, two cases champagne, two casks soda water, eight casks pork, one case wine, one basket wine, 20 packages groceries, one keg rum, two cases sundries, 12 hhds beer, 14,000 shingles, 1,000 ft timber, five boilers, two reaping machines, eight sacks chaff, 10 passengers and luggage.
Rangatira for the Thames with one case biscuit, ½ ton flour, three buckets, one bundle, 10 sheep, one ton hay, three cases brandy, 20 sacks biscuit, one bottle quicksilver, three cases ale.
The New Zealand Herald comes to the defence of the Thames
diggers who have been maligned in an Evening News report. At the Auckland Races on New Year’s Day, before
the crowd left the racecourse, some officers of the 18th Regiment in a dray were annoyed by a half
drunken man who attempted, thinking it was a public vehicle, to take a seat in
it. He was put off, but a scuffle
ensued and men of the Royal Irish Regiment as well as the police were summoned
to the spot. A very inaccurate account
in the Evening News stated that the Thames diggers present had collected old
bottles and placed them in holes near the course with a view of throwing them
at the soldiers as they passed by. “This is a most foul and calumnious
attack on the character of a hard working but respectable class of men,”
splutters the Herald. “Diggers can take their own part in the affray without
resorting to the use of empty bottles whether against soldiers or any other
class of man, and from the orderly manner in which the miners from the Thames
have spent their Christmas holidays in town, there are few who would lay such a
charge against them upon mere hearsay.
The very temperate manner in which they behaved on the race course shows pretty clearly that there was no intention on the
part of the diggers to provoke a breach of the peace.”
Saturday, 4 January
The Star of the South makes a special trip to the Thames
with about 100 passengers. She makes a
quick run down of 4 ½ hours, passing the Midge and Enterprise and the cutters
Severn and Rangatira bound for Auckland.
A new yacht is launched at Auckland called the Digger. She will be employed between Great Barrier
and the Thames. The Digger is another fine specimen of what Auckland boat
builders are capable of turning out.
The fourth and last day of sports begins at the Thames. A disputed footrace of 100 yards run on the
first day is run and won again by the original winner. Jumping in a sack and a wheelbarrow race follow. Lads blindfolded and grinning through horse
collars create a diversion among the crowd, after which a hurdle race for
heats twice round the course is improvised. George Couldrey is
run over by a horse and cut severely about the face, his right ear is nearly taken off and his hand is fractured. He is
instantly attended by Dr Clarence Hooper, who also rendered assistance to Mr
Murphy, who was run over yesterday.
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| Highland fling, engraving, 1867 The Bettmann Archive |
The Highland bagpipes gather together a large muster, among who
are several from the land of the clans and the heather. Mr J H McRae and Ronald McDonald delight the
musical taste of their countrymen with reels and strathspeys so well
that the judge cannot decide on whom to give the prize.
At the Auckland Acclimatisation
Society meeting a proposal is read from Mr John Graham offering the society ten
deer, or any larger number not exceeding 50, running at present on Motu Island,
for £5 per head. Once captured, Mr Jones enthuses, if the deer were let loose up the Thames they would in a short time grow into
a large herd. They would thrive best in the most inaccessible places and the outlay would be trifling compared to the
result, for in a few years the whole interior of the country would be stocked
with fallow deer.
The sports programme at the Thames having now been exhausted, Joseph Mulligan of the Victoria Hotel, ascends the grandstand and addresses
the crowd saying that as this is the first meeting held by Europeans on the
Thames, he has much pleasure in tapping a hogshead of beer, to be drunk by his
friends now before him (vociferous
cheering). And, furthermore, he will
subscribe a sum of £25 towards sports to be held on 17 March (St Patrick's Day)
when he hopes to see as large a muster on the ground as there has been for
the past four days.
A circle is formed, about ten men deep, round the hogshead
of beer and every man who feels thirsty has a pannikin full, many have more and
when it is exhausted Mr Mulligan is carried on the shoulders of the men. The prizes will be awarded on Monday. All the gentlemen officiating as judges,
starters, stewards and clerk of the course have had a difficult task keeping
order but carried out their duties in a courteous manner. Mr Hicks, jeweller of Vulcan Lane, Auckland,
and Mr Howden of Queen Street, Auckland, present a silver cup for the hurdle
race and a scarf pin for the hack race.
Due honour is done to those gentlemen in a cup of champagne this evening
at the Victoria Hotel.
All hands after resting tomorrow will go to work none the
worse for enjoying themselves at the first New Years sports held at the Thames.
Don, Diamond, Catherine and Cornstalk for the Thames with
cargoes of sawn timber and general merchandise.
'Our' goldfields.
Sunday, 5 January
The demand on the public purse for the maintenance of the sick and destitute has
very considerably decreased during the past six months, although there were
increased costs between October and November 1867 attributed to the temporary
aid afforded to families the heads of which have gone to the Thames. Since June, no less than 200 names have been struck
off the books as imposters - very great care has been taken with applicants in
discriminating between real and fictitious want. Another system of fraud uncovered is that of
selling rations - bakers, butchers and contractors have received instructions to
issue no more than three days rations at a time. Formally the whole months rations could be
drawn at once, and instances have been known of a family drawing 168 loaves on
one day, with a view to selling them.
The Daily Southern Cross has begun referring to the Thames
as ‘our’ goldfields. It is becoming more
apparent that the quality of Thames gold is not as inferior as it was at first
supposed to be, judging by the latest purchase ticket from the Royal Mint
Sydney, dated December 16, 1867. This
sample is no different from the bulk of the gold obtained at the Thames, except
it was cleaner. The great fault is that
miners do not take sufficient pains to clean their gold.
At the foundry of Charles Hawkeswood, Chapel Street, Auckland, two eight stamper crushing machines have been made
to order for the Thames diggings. They
are constructed on an improved principle.
Instead of having to ladle the amalgam from the front, a trap door is
constructed at the back of the machine, from which the amalgam is taken out on
to the ripple table. The box of the
machine is of a superior description and much stronger than anything previously
made. It is most likely there will be a great demand for this improved crushing machine at the
goldfields.
Monday, 6 January
Spencer and Co, chemists, of Shortland, are now able to assay
gold and auriferous quartz at the Thames, as well as retort and smelt
gold. A room is also made available on
their premises for medical men who may wish to meet their patients in Shortland.
2.45pm
The steamer Maori Chief, intended for the Thames Goldfields, makes her official trial trip in the Waitemata under the superintendence of the Government Inspector of Steamboats. She leaves her anchorage off Mr Duthie’s shipyard and steams down the harbour. She tries her speed against the Enterprise. The Enterprise soon however leaves the Maori Chief behind. Her speed will be increased to 8 knots when additional flats have been fitted to her paddle wheels. The Maori Chief will have a certificate to ply within the limits of Shortland.
The steamer Maori Chief, intended for the Thames Goldfields, makes her official trial trip in the Waitemata under the superintendence of the Government Inspector of Steamboats. She leaves her anchorage off Mr Duthie’s shipyard and steams down the harbour. She tries her speed against the Enterprise. The Enterprise soon however leaves the Maori Chief behind. Her speed will be increased to 8 knots when additional flats have been fitted to her paddle wheels. The Maori Chief will have a certificate to ply within the limits of Shortland.
Wahapu for the Thames with three horses, sundries.
Otahuhu for the Thames with sundries.
Otahuhu for the Thames with sundries.
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| DSC 6 January, 1868 |
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| NZH 6 January, 1868 |
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Tapu Creek, Thames Goldfields 1868 by Albin Martin
Mackelvie Trust Collection, Auckland Art Gallery, Accession no M1885/1/141
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Rush to Tapu Creek.
Tuesday, 7 January
The fourteen day protection for claims is lifted on the
Thames field today and the men are industriously back at work. Nearly 3,000 miners now hold mining licenses.
There is a rush to Tapu Creek - payable gold has been
discovered during the holidays by several parties who were out prospecting
there. Between 400 and 500 men, who were
not making wages, determine to try their luck on the new ground. A number of claims are marked off and gold
found on several of them.
The Tauranga calls at Tapu Creek this afternoon on her
passage to Auckland and lands about 50 more men. She then brings up to Auckland samples from Tapu Creek – one
is an excellent specimen of water worn gold. Some of the pieces are over an ounce of pure
gold, while others contain quartz formation.
The Tauranga will now be laid up for some days to undergo a
thorough overhaul of her machinery and hull before resuming on the Thames
trade.
A new newspaper named the Thames Advertiser is proposed–
a meeting of parties who agree to take shares will be held at Butt’s Shortland Hotel,
Wednesday 15 January at noon.
Dr Pollen, agent to the general government, leaves Auckland
this afternoon for the Thames in the colonial steamer Sturt, with the Commissioner
of Police Mr Naughton, Superintendent Williamson and others. The object of their visit is
connected with the contemplated opening of Shortland Town as a port of entry.
Avon for the Thames with three
tons flour, eight head cattle, six pigs, four palings, three passengers.
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| NZH 7 January, 1868 |
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*In Scottish and Northern English folklore, the 'first foot' is the first person to enter the home of a household on
New Year’s Day and a bringer of good fortune for the coming year. Grinning through a horse collar was a game where participants vied with one another putting their heads through horse collars and making grimaces, the prize being awarded to the one who made the most hideous contortions.
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Wishing you all the very best for 2018.
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Source
Papers Past
© Meghan Hawkes / First year on the Thames Goldfield 2017 - 2018
Please credit Meghan Hawkes/ First year on the Thames Goldfield 2017 - 2018 when re-using information from this blog.
