LIFE OF A ROVER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 267, 10 November 1934, Page 7

LIFE OF A ROVER.

SEARCHING FOR GOLD. CANTERBURY MAN'S STORY. ADVENTURES IN AUSTRALIA. Soldier of fortune, gold prospector and one time bookmaker, Mr. W. H. Dawkins has returned to Christchurch after 40 years in and around the mining camps of West Australia. He is staying with a relative, Mr. J. T. W. Vivian, in Springs Road, Sockburn. ' Sitting in an easy chair, he told a "Times" reporter something of the adventurous life which has been his choice. Tanned bronze by years in the open, the greyness of his beard is the only indication that he has reached the age of 74. From his earliest days Ml , . Dawkins has led the life of a rover. In 1879, together with his family, he left the village three miles from Dorchester, where he was born, and embarked on the Rangitiki, a windjammer owned by the New Zealand Shipping Company. Seventy-nine days later the ship arrived at Wellington. For the next few years he worked in Canterbury, and then in 18S8 the call of adventure became- too strong and he boarded a ship at Picton bound for Sydney. For six months Mr. Dawkins and a shipboard acquaintance worked at whatever came their way until they both went "broke" at the races. So once more they took the road, arriving eventually in Melbourne, where they worked during '90 and '91. A Gold Find. From Melbourne they travelled on to Adelaide, where six months after their arrival there came the "first wind from the west." Gold had been found, but just when he needed money Mr. Dawkins had a run of bad luck. Working on ships and wharves he progressed along the coast until at Christmas he found himself in Perth.

At this time the Eatons had just come down after prospecting the country round Coolgardie. They had found no gold, and excitement had quietened down when Bayley and Ford arrived, f^llin,^-of the big-strike. Thegj fcad

been more fortunate than the Eatons, for an aboriginal had guided them, to the place where they made their find. But it was some time before Mr. Dawkins was able to get on his way to the fields.

Then one evening Ford returned to Perth with the news that his original hopes had been more than fulfilled. "I was talking to him under the trees in the park where we all used to meet," continued Mr. Dawkins. "He said that he was going back in March, and that if ever I wanted to get up to the fields now was the time. So I drew my pay and hopped up to Coolgardie, where I remained four months with little success. But I was back the following year and did some nice business running Calcutta sweeps and making a book. Most of the alluvial gold had gone by this time, but in order to make some money I started the Coolgardie Eacing Club. Just when the track had been surveyed and things were getting into running order, came the strike at Km-nalpi. I could not resist the temptation, and handed over the club to Rod Mclver, who became its first secretary. But we had held many meetings in the main street. It was pony racing, of course." 1.0.TJ. Field. Kurnalpi proved no more successful than had the other centres, and Mr. Dawkins moved on to the 1.0. U. district. It had been eo named because the Kennedy brothers, who made the find, had been "grub-staked" by the local storekeeper. It was at the 1.0. U. that Mr. Dawkins had the best luck of his life. He was in partnership with one Bob Brown, who discovered a nugget 1 which contained 33 ounces of fine gold and 84 ounces solid in crystals. So large was this find that it was sent by the Australian Government to the Paris Exhibition. But more important to the partners, they received £5 an ounce for it. His next big adventure was made in the company of Jim Smith in 1899. Smith was acknowledged to be the finest bushman in Australia, and for six months they prospected the country round the Victoria Spring. Not than a dozen white men had been in this district before their arrival, and it had never been surveyed. But in epite of hardship and privation during that and the following years, there was no return for-their, labours.

So the wanderer decided to go back to the old game. For two years lie had great success at Kookyri, a newly opened field, where he had two billiards saloons. At last, after he had saved some money, the Black Range was discovered, and once more he left in search, of gold. At that time he little knew that he would be there for 20 years. In the first three weeks Mr. Dawkins found the mine on which he was located until he returned to New Zealand. "The prospects were not good, but I was tired of wandering," he said, "and so settled to work. It has never made me rich, but I have never been short. At times I had as much as £1800 in fixed deposits and at others I had twenty or thirty pounds. But there was never any lawlessness at the fields."