NOTABLE LANDMARK

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 54, 27 November 1930, Page 9

NOTABLE LANDMARK

Terawhiti Sheep Station EARLY GOLD-SEEKERS

(By J.

B. Walker.)

Eight miles along the coast from island Bay is situated Tongue Point, the approach to the Terawhiti sheep station, one of the most historic stations in the North Island. The original Mr. James McMennamin, in company with his brother, commenced farming operations there nearly one hundred years ago. During that time many happenings of interest have occurred in close proximity to this notable station. Some fifty years ago in the Oterongu Valley, three miles from Terawhiti, there were six gold mines working. Their names were the Albion, Golden Crown, Duke of Wellington, Welcome, Phoenix, and the Enterprise. Evidence of the presence of gold in this valley was received with great excitement in Wellington at the time, and within a few weeks the Terawhiti Gold Mining Syndicate was formed. The necessary capital with which to purchase plant, etc., was readily subscribed, and the confidence of the investors having been secured the services of some fifty men were obtained for mining purposes and a start was made, in preparation for the installation of the machinery on arrival. Installation of Plant. The battery which worked the ore from the Albion and Golden Crown mines is still to be seen some three miles inland from Oterongu Bay. The method of installing the several batteries in their locations must have required considerable tenacity of purpose. In the case of the Phoenix holding, which is on the Makara side of Oterongu, a rough track was cut through the dense bush and a team of horses belonging to the late Mr. Sievers, of Makara, was secured to haul the necessary machinery, by means of a block and tackle, to the mouth of the shaft. Several parts of this machinery weighed from thirteen to fourteen cwt. In parts, the roughly-formed track was very steep, and at these sections the block and tackle was secured to a convenient tree stump and the horses were then driven downhill, while the particular piece of machinery was slowly hauled up these steep grades of roadway. Traces of parts of several of these roughly-formed roadways are still clearly discernible, and they act as a guide to interested persons visiting the old diggings—the relics of some fifty years ago. Although colour was found in many places, the venture did not meet with the success that was anticipated. After a valiant effort to secure sufficient gold to warrant a further call for additional capital, the syndicate was forced to acknowledge that the scheme would have to be abandoned. Loading Wool at Terawhiti. At daybreak on Sunday last the coastal steamer Koau dropped anchor in Cove Bay, Terawhiti, to pick up the station’s 1930 wool clip. This yearly occurrence is the cause of Some little excitement at the old homestead, as the visiting steamer, besides taking away that which represents the station’s year’s work, brings a supply of stores, fencing wire, posts, etc. Although many ships, outward bound, pass by in a year, only one small coaster turns her bow toward the old station and enters that small bay wherein was enacted such a tragic happening twenty years ago. After the stores and materials necessary for another year’s operations have been “surfed” ashore, the doors of the wool store-sheds are opened and then commences the loading of the “Golden Fleece.” Horse-drawn sledges haul the wool to the water’s edge. Here a large skid is placed in position on the surf boat and the station hands, working on either side of this skid, roll the bales of wool into the boat. This operation necessitates those assisting walking into the water waist deep—a somewhat unpleasant underaking. Tragic Happening Recalled. Tongue Point forms one side of the small bay which was visited by the Koau on Sunday, and it was off this point that the Union Company’s steamer Penguin was wrecked between ten and eleven o’clock at night on February 12, 1909, resulting in the loss of seventy-four lives. The weather was thick at the time, and a heavy sea was running. The vessel struck an outlying rock and sank in less than an hour. The wreck was described at that time as the worst that had happened in New Zealand waters since the wreck of the Wairarapa, on the Great Barrier in 1894. . , The first to reach the scene ol the disaster were the station hands from Terawhiti. These men rescued several of the passengers from certain drowning, aud so thick was the weather that they had to keep whistling to remain in touch with one another. The late Mr. James McMennamin, the owner of the Terawhiti station, and who passed away at his late residence at Island Bay this year, was described by the survivors as a truly philanthropic man. He gave all the spare clothes he had in his possession, besides providing food and shelter for the survivors and the many bereaved relatives who later visited the scene of the disaster. To such a measure was this kindness extended that Mr. McMennamin, at that time, possessed only one suit of clothes, and had not even a pair of boots to his name. Terawhiti Beacon Light. The wreck of the Penguin caused a revival of agitation for the erection of some suitable light at Tongue Point, and after repeated representations had been made to the then Minister of Marine, and the question of the advisability of the erection of a lighthouse had been thoroughly gone into, it was decided to approve of the construction of a beacon light on Tom’s Rock. This undertaking took two years to complete, and in the course of its construction many difficulties were encountered, principally that of negotiating the surf iu heavy seas. The buoy to Which was attached the surf boat, the conveyor of materials for constructional purposes from the shore, carried-away on several occasions, and both it and the boat were washed ashore by the heavy incoming seas. This automatic flashing light, which never fails to warn mariners of the dangerous coast over which it stands sentinel, is sixty-five feet above sea-level, and its intermittent flashes can be seen for a distance of twenty-live miles on a clear night. A Trampcr’s Paradise. The coastline from Island Bay to Oterongu Bay is admirably suited to those keen on tramping. The long stretches of sandy beach make for very pleasant walking, especially at ebb-tide. Good fishing is to be had at almost any of the bays past the Red Rocks. A tramp to the Terawhiti homestead is a day well spent, there being so many features of interest all along the route. From Oterongu Bay the ferry steamer Tamahinc can be cieaiIv seen entering or coming out ol roiy Channel, also several of the homesteads on hi,” too far for one day, unless tackled from Makara—across the bridle track to the Terawhiti homestead and thence on to Oterongu Bay.