Mr William Murray

Press, 16 June 1988, Page 46

Mr William Murray

PA Dunedin Memories of an era when goldmining was done the hard way were revived when Mr William Murray, one of the last of the band of men who dug their way through the gold-bearing gravel of the Kawarau River with pick and shovel, died in Cromwell recently. He was 88. Mr Murray was born in Lawrence. He spent time in the grocery trade, at carpentry, with a fire brigade and as a stoker in the steamer Lancastria. After working on railway construction in Australia he returned to the Cromwell area in 1925 and was introduced to the Bell family and goldmining. He worked with them

on several ventures before sinking his own shaft on the banks of the Kawarau River, winning 19 ounces of gold in the first wash-up. Mr Murray formed the Scottish Lead Company, which dug more than 240 metres of tunnel before the venture was abandoned because of insufficient returns. He worked for the Austral Malay Dredge Company at Lowburn for 13 years, joined the then Ministry of Works, and later retired to a farm at Ripponvale, near Cromwell. . Mr Murray was a keen member of the Cromwell and Defence Rifle Club. He is survived by a daughter and six sons.