EARLY DAYS

Evening Star, Issue 19020, 15 August 1925, Page 11

EARLY DAYS

“ROAM EfEG" AND "GENTLE ANNIE" ORIGIN OF NAMES [Written by W. J. Mahsh for the 1 Evening Star.’] A short time ago the ‘ Star * published a series of articles by Canon Nevill on place names in Otago, with a genuine attempt at explaining their origination. To anyone of pioneering blood who read them they must have been very interesting. It is most desirable that facts connected with New Zealand’s early history should be brought to light while there yet remain individuals who form a link with the beginning of events in this country. I myself have missed many opportunities of putting on record a great deal of what the sturdy old gold diggers, as contra-distinguished from minors, had to tell. These witnesses slip away without first-hand evidence being obtained from them. The first that one knows that they have lived up to a given recent time is the announcement of their death in the newspapers. It is much to be regretted that even now some systematic attempt is not made to search out any pioneers of the sixties who still live, and gather from them any frag- 1 inents of early history of an original description. I know quite a number who could contribute to the fund of information. Lately I heard of a man on the West Coast who, in the words of his nephew (my informant), a reliable man in business, “pulled a handcart up Maclaggan street and over tho Old Man Range to Dunstan in 1862. He was at Gabriel’s. His age is eightynine years.’’ Surely such men as these “could a tale unfold.” Canon Nevill is a careful historian, and lias rendered good service by his articles. In most cases he is correct, no doubt. In one instance, where ho was uncertain, he plainly said so, and left it an open question. It was this ) particular instance that bestirred me, icading to the acquirement of knowledge of-some events which may interest your readers. It was the name “ Gentle Annie ” occurring in one of his articles that arrested my attention, the locality being to me a familiar scone in my childhood, my father having brought us from Victoria for the Dunstan rush in 1862. lat once saw that Canon Nevill’s speculative explanation was apart from the fact. Tho application of the name “Gentle Annie” to tho stream in question had nothing to do with the song ‘When the Springtime Comes, Gentle Annie ’ —popular at that time, it is true. From an early age I understood that there were two associated young women who lived in the district at the time—lß62 onward,

the stirring times of gold rushes all over the country. The one was known by the sobriquet of “Roaring Meg”; the other, “ Gentle Annie.” And it was the contrasting names of these two women that were imparted to two streams, tributary of_ the’ Kawarau River, which once again is casting the glamor of gold over Otago. . The Roaring Meg, where it joins the larger stream, is situate about nine miles above Cromwell, on the road to Wakatipu, and the name is quite appropriate to the stream, as it is a series of cataracts for some distance above its confluence with the Kawarau River; and by way of contrast Gentle Annie Creek (some two miles further on) is placid. A respected old mining mate of my father’s gave to each member of our famity an elongated piece of gold, resembling a finger—five pieces in all—> calling the whole of them “ Gentle Annie’s fingers,” and these were treasured for lhany a long year as a curiosity. They had been Jonnd at Gentle Annie Creek. Such gold could not have travelled far. Quito recently I had a meeting with an old pioneer miner. Mr Frank Decimns Walker, of Reeftoii, aged eightythree, and he stimulated my interest when ho said: “ I was the original prospector of the Gentle Annie. I got a 2odwt piece there.” _ In reply to my direct question, he said: “Gentle Annie was a young woman, splendid-looking, a gay girl,” and that “Roaring Meg lived there —kept a shanty ” at the creek which bore her name. Those were the days! At the terrace known as Kawarau Gorge there was a big population, with several hotels and stores. The river banks were thronged with cold-seekers for fifty miles _or more, tunnelling, sluicing, or cradling on the beaches. Dunstan (now Clyde) was the most populous town, having thousands living there. It was a canvas town, with two theatres. Dick Thatcher used to sing bis topical songs. Mr Walker imperfectly recalls the words of one of these (the chorus, ho said), ‘ Root, Hog. or Die,’ thus; Captain Cook, he landed a lot of P’S S , „ To wander among the ranges.

Ho little thought the country Would be so overrun, And the people (like the pigs) Go the whole hog or none. Mr Walker proceeded to give an ac- ' count of several rushes, oho of them in the same vicinity. “There was another gully called Candlelight, afterwards changed to Moonlight. I was out prospecting, and from the Gentle Annie landed in Moonlight Creek. It was getting laic, so I decided to rest under a rock. After a spell I walked up the creek to reconnoitre, and came across two men. One of them was panning off a dish of washdirt from a hole they had just bottomed. Tiie man handling the dish was Thomas Weir, a Scot, and the. other looking over his shoulder was George Moonlight, a tall man. Presumably the prospect was good, but, not wishing to let me see it, he swirled the water around the dish and turned it upside down, saying: ‘ Another for the Queen,’ meaning it was a duffer. _ Next clay I came down the steep hill into the Gentle Annie and returned to camp at Kawarau Gorge. My brother, George Walker, asked: 1 Where have _ you bemi?’ 1 answered: ‘ Prospering. ’ ‘Have you not been to the rush?’ he j asked. ‘What rush?’ ‘Oh, they have j been going up all night by candlelight. It is a great rush.' ” Here we s»e whv ] the locality was first called Candlelight ; and then changed to Moonlight, alter | the name of the prospector. Moonlight Creek it is named to this day. _ I Some Didymus may question this exploit thus: '“Hew could a great body of men constituting a ‘ rush ’ proceed up a mountain side by candlelight? Why, the wind would blow out any such light.” Ah, he has not_ heard of the digger’s lantern. Every digger who ventured out at night was equipped with one. It was quite simply made from material at hand. The digger’s favorite stimulant was_ “ Old Tom ” gin, and the pellucid liquor was contained in transparent bottles. It must j have come in iu quantity, for the ( cases were more familiar then than j kegs are now in “ dry ” districts, and ■ they would bring a price for their wood ] to make miners’ cradles. Painted red | and branded J.D.K.Z., the cases were j known and referred to by those initials. Well, a bottle containing an inch of water would bo placed in the fire, and the bottom would drop out. A half-length of car\3 would be pared

away at the lower end, so that when dropped into the inverted bottle it would fit into the neck, and the bofitle with candle alight was grasped by the neck as a town crier would carry his bell. Imagine hundreds of men carrying these_ lights on their trail, and how lhe_ illuminations would be; reflected by their new tin dishes, carried on their backs.

I cannot say that there were any sensational finds at Moonlight, but there must have been some gold on the banks of the stream, for about eight to ten years later 1 remember seeing Mr Robert Davidson and party sluicing there. At that time there was a movement to discover the shortest mountain track between Cardona and Cromwell. Mr David Bews (Provincial District Engineer, stationed at ; Cromwell). Francis Tremesson; and my father (taking me with him) made the search. We went up the Meg Creek a certain distance, climbed one side, and landed in Moonlight. We kept a look-out for Captain Cook’s pigs, which were reported to be numerous, but saw none. It was a rough trip, and we often had to dismount. We stayed the night at Bond’s Hotel, at Cardrona. whore there .were then several hotels. The next day Mr George Bond acted as leader over another route, by which we came out at the back of the farms at the foothills near the Cromwell racecourse. This route was adopted and was named “ MacKellar’s Track,” after Mr Duncan MacKellar, Goldfields Secretary and member for the district in the Provincial Council, who secured a grant for it. It was only a horse track. Eventually the road over the Crown Range connecting with Wakatipu was made, and probably this old track is forgotten. As to tho wild pigs on Pisa, some old residents may remember a man employed on Shanley’s farm being injured by one_ that came among the farm herd of swine.