DOBSON MEMORIES

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 June 1932, Page 12

DOBSON MEMORIES

; A GOOD TEACHER (By F. E. O’Flynn). My first sight of Dobson, or Lower IVallsend, as it was then called; was in 1879. It was a very small village, most of the residents of which were dependent on the coal mining at Brunnerton. It had one small industry—quarrying slabs of stone from the bluffs facing Rocky Island. These slabs of Stone were locally used as flag-stones and for making grindstones, but much of the stone was 1 exported and the lower portions of. the G.P.O. at Wellington were constructed of it. but it would not compare with the lighter and more easily masoned Oamaru article in the higher levels of buildings. A largo immigration barracks stood almost on the spot where the works of the Dobson Colliery now stand and in which emigrants who had been assisted from the Old Country found lodgment until they could build homes of their own. The name of the place was soon changed to Dobson in memory of Dobson the surveyor, who was murdered there by the Burgess, Levy, Kelly gang so notorious in many parts of the West Coast and in the Nelson district. In those early days the remains of the first road between Grey and Brunnerton ran close along the river bank, but perhaps. not a , vestige, of it re•mains tb-day. It was upon this old road and not upon the present Grey Valley road that, Dobson was murdered. Just about opposite to the present Dobson Railway Station on the river bank there used to be the first reminder of the tragedy. It consisted of a zinc or tin plate nailed to a tree and with zinc nails the fell tragedy was recorded on the plate, but the tree became rotten and the plate came away from the trunk, but what became of it I never knew. The present monument made of the slabs of stone already referred to is much nearer the railway line and ».a bit further .up stream than the original mark. When the mines at Brunner developed, Dobson grew, and saw-milling was pursued on the Harbour Board’s lease or on the Education Board’s lease on the Dobson Flat. On the parts thus cleared of timber a rifle range was erected and in the old volunteering days this was a favourite resort for all the marksmen in the district. When the development of the Wallspnd mine took place. Dobson grew into a rather nice village, free from the “barber” and with more sunshine than any other part of the Brunnerton dis trict.

The Dobson School was opened or. August 15, 1887. Mr. E. A. Scott was the Headmaster and Mrs Jas. White his only assistant; my own name i$ the first upon the register and I believe the school was opened without any special ceremony. At first only one room with a porch and anteroom was built, but a second room was soon added. The late Mr. E. A. Scott, Headmaster, was certainly the leading educational personality in those parts and many of us owe the little we have done in the scholastic world to his untiring efforts and his able instruction. Before opening at Dobson he had /taught in Greymout'h and Taylorville, was transferred from No ■Town to Dobson and after the Brun ner Disaster in 1896 he became Headmaster at Taylorville, was Inspector of Schools - for the Grey district and upon retiring he settled in Hamper where he died and was buried. He is commemorated in the Grey schools by the Scott Essay annual competition and a photograph of him was hung in the vestibule of the old public school in Greyipouth by the late F. H. Kilgour, on behalf of his many friends and admirers and I have no doubt the. photograph is preserved on the walls of your newer brick school. Upon his death, I published in the columns of the “Star” a commemoration, which, although very inadequate, x seemed to meet the approval of his many friends. I had thirty eight years of social and intellectual intercourse with him and the day I left his control at Dobson in 1893, he gave me his last injunction: —To your superiors in rank — obedience; to your equals —courtesy; to your inferiors—kindness. Some of his best-known pupils were; —Mr. L. F. de Berry M.A. the present Headmaster, West Christchurch School, Mr. T. 0. Bishop, Secretary Employers’ Federation; Frank Adams, one 'time editor of the Bystander, Sydney; Mr. Jas. Bennie, architect, Wellington; Miss Weenick (Mrs Wise) and Mr. J. F. Willianls, at present First Assistant Master, Hornby School, and numerous others who have done well in life. NEW LEASE OF LIFE Dobson had a domain, a football team and a cricket club, of which" Mr. F. Hopkinson was captain, and we had the assistance of two well-known Grey men in the cricket team —Mr. W. Walton, a good all-round player, and Mr. Tom Murphy of the Customs Department, a well-known wicket keeper in the early days of West Coast cricket. Mr. Hopkinson was also master* of the Dobson Brass Band; he played the hornet well himself and later he took the New Zealand Band to England. He was an uncle to Mr. E. Franklin, very well known in band circles in many parts of New Zealand, and who with several brothers and a sister, was air old boj- of the local school. The only member of the band whom I know to be about that part of the district to-day is Mr. James Roberts. The big maritime strike and the consequent closing of the Wallsend mine a mile away, threw the village back, and the Brunner disaster six years later hit the people badly; of the sixty-five killed, nineteen of them: I were from Dobson.

Over thirty years ago Mr. Morgan brought the first diamond drill to the Coast for the Mines Department and put down the first bore very close to the present Dobson Mine. A twelve foot seam of coal was struck at a depth of about 650 feet; the plant was removed half a mile further down stream to Sweetman’s old mill, where the same seam was struck at a depth of about 1250 feet; a further attempt was made still half a mile further down stream. I believe the coal was struck again. At all events it was from this third bore-hole that petroleum began to issue, but for some reason or other no further attempts have been made to explore the region referred to by any board or company. The present Dobson Coal Company is a more recent venture and yet in their short period of existence they have had their troubles —explosion, strike, and so on. This venture has, however, given

Dobson a new lease of life and the new town shows signs of extending itself on the Dobson Flat, and if the coal mining operations go ahead this locality would be found more suitable for a town than perhaps any other on the Coast.