Pioneer Pakeha Settlers Weary Trek Over Ranges

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 December 1934, Page 16

Pioneer Pakeha Settlers Weary Trek Over Ranges

THE first permanent white dwellers beside the Hokitika river were Messrs John R. Hudson and James Price, who had plodded a weary way from Canterbury over the mountain saddle and down the rough Teremakau river-bed to the Coast. But before the permanent founders of the town arrived, records show that Abel Tasman from his ship sighted New Zealand for the first tithe immediately south of the Hokitika river. Later, Captain Cook sailed up the West Coast within sight of the Southern Alps and the coast line of what was to become Westland, the territory to the west of Canterbury Province of which the Coast was at first a part. Then later, while men moved up and down the Coast, among the number were Mackay and his companions, who had the task of buying for the. Government the strip of land between the mountains and the sea from the Maoris. The main transaction of the purchase of Westland was carried out with the natives in the vicinity of the Okarito Lagoon, but some signatures of participating Maoris had to be obtained as far south as Bruce Bay.

It was towards the end of August. 1864 that John Robert Hudson and James Price crossed the Canterbury Plains, en route to the Westland goldrush. They had pack horses with tents and supplies, and made their way by the mountain saddle to the head-waters of the Teremakau River. The rough river-bed was followed, and it proved a difficult and slow trip. They met. with many vicissitudes en route, and were glad of camping spells which afforded feed for the horses. They passed by Lake Brunner, and eventually reached the Greenstone, where a rush had set in. However, they were not tempted to stay, and still following the river to its outlet, elected to move north to Greymouth, where they learned they could replenish their supplies. They rested for a time at the township and loaded up the horses with supplies, deciding to move south in search of a location for business. to their loading they moved leisurely, and it was September 30 before nightfall brought them to the Arahura River, where there was good grass for the horses. By the next afternoon (October 1) they reached the Hokitika River, and decided to make it their headquarters to do business with the diggers and others passing up and down the Coast, the sea beach being the only available route for travelling. They set about, at once erecting a dwelling and store. It wps built of saplings and covered with calico, 20 x 12 in size. That constituted the first beginnings of the 1;own which was destined to grow so rapidly. The store was opened the next day, and the pioneers decided to remain foi’ the Summer and try out the business prospects of the locality. Prospectors began to move up and down the Coast in increasing number, and a canoe was hewn out of a log, which served for a ferry crossing. Price being the boatman. Two parties in particular soon arrived, and went south on a prospecting expedition. Others arrived at the ferry, but decided to wait news of the advanceguard, and the storekeepers did a good trade from the outset. It was a fortnight, before the prospectors returned with belts well filled with gold, for fresh supplies. Learning the news, Price departed in the middle of the night with the pack-horse team . to Greymouth, to obtain fresh f supplies. The waiting miners were anxious for news of the actual discovery, and its whereabouts, which was withheld till the 1 mob became angry and threats passed. It was then revealed that good gold had been found up the Totara River and also at Donnelly’s—socalled after one of the prospectors—near where what was to become the town of Ross. The news spread like magic, and diggers moved south in an unending stream. Hudson and Price were encouraged to open a branch store at Ross and business flourished. As fast as goods could be procured overland from Greymouth (where steamers from Nelson entered) there was an unsatisfied demand. But prospectors had spread in other districts, and at. this juncture gold was found at Waimea (now Goldborough) eleven miles from Hokitika. The place at once grew in importance, and Hokitika'gained reflected glory. Next came the gold finds up the Hokitika River at Eight-Mile (Woodstock) and litter Kanieri, and the stream of arrivals became unending. Hokitika was now expanding, and stores and hotels began. to appear along the sea front —the only open space—for behind was swamp and dense forest. Habitations commenced to appear, along the river bank, and the first, sign of a quay appeared in December, 1864, when shipping began to arrive loaded with supplies and passengers. That month wit-1 nessed rapid ;l?velopments. Gold was being won in. tergo quantities by many lucky ones, arid the news , of their

good fortune excited the populace. The s.s. Nelson was the first boat to enter the river and thereafter shipping became general, and was a special feature of the establishment of Hokitika, which soon had direct steamers arriving from Melbourne (apart from New Zealand ports) and being tendered in the roadstead.

When Hokitika began to take shape in the busy days of . the closing of 1864, officials arrived from Canterbury, and began to take a hand in the making of a town. Warden Revell marked off sites of 40ft frontage in what was to become Revell Street,, the main street of the town, and its principal retail centre. Wharf Street was the second street opened, and the late William Evans, of Timaru, was the first section holder. Sections which cost £2O, soon sprang to ten ■times the purchase price, there being a feverish rush for the better sites. Further boats continued to arrive, and every day saw changes in the townshin. Population increased rapidly, and the whole scene was one of great stir and activity. Revell Street spread far up the beach, and was closely occupied. In due course, fine building premises appeared, many being of two storeys.

Christmas Day, in 1864, fell on a Sunday, and a gold-buyer records he was busy all day buying gold. By that time the town was well established, but it was the year 1865 which witnessed the big rush and produced the large gold return from about Hokitika. The Westland Goldfield was proclaimed in the first week in March. Law' and Custom officers began to appear in force, and were fully occupied in their duties. It was at this time that gold was being purchased in large parcels from the diggers from the back leads —often in parcels of hundreds of ounces. The first yield w r as certainly prolific; though many arrivals failed to woo Dame Fortune, and left sadder and wiser men for their experience. But many profited greatly, business flourished, and life went on merrily with all the glamour of the early day discoveries. State and Church took a hand in shaping the destiny of the town and district, and law and order prevailed to mark the sensible demeanour of the inhabitants. It was a hurried period of development, the town shaping by leaps and bounds, and becoming one of the most notable centres of the then young colony.

There is much descriptive literature referring to early Hokitika and the history of its bustling times. Sir Julius Von Haast, who made a geological expedition to the West Coast, has much to say in his records and reports of the district. His approach to the town was from the north, and the beach route seemed to be a great main road. Horses and riders, pack-horses and their drivers, men with swags, waggons drawn by horses or bullocks, crowded the roadway. From the north of the Hokitika river bank stretched the habitations, with ships, hotels and banks. All classes of trade were represented, and many foreign tongues were to be heard. Goods were being unloaded and stock arriving. There was hustle and bustle, a scene unique for New Zealand, as a town came quick!}' into being. Haast afterwards explored both the Hokitika River, and its main tributary, Kanieri, He went by canoe to the Hokitika Gorge, his Maori boatman taking three days on the upstream trip, but they returned with the favouring current in three hours. The Kanieri River was penetrated for halfway by canoe, and then a tramp through the bush till the lake was discovered. These interesting trips are described in great detail in the official reports of the times, and are full of terest to Westlanders in particular.’

The late William Williams, carpenter, arrived in 1865, camping in Tancred Street, where the Catholic day school stood later. Within the year he moved to what became Fitzherbert

town, and there was great excitement, about the crime.

Regarding matters educational it is interesting to mention that the roil strength in the private schools in 1870 was: All Saints’ 80; St. Mary’s 81; Presbyterian 63; South Spit (Mr Stanton) 21. An effort was made to establish a High School in 1870, but the school was not formed till later. The first school •committee was Messrs R. C. Reid (chairman), G. G. Fitzgerald, J. Churches, W. G. Johnston, J. Mulligan "and R. Patterson. The Central Board of Education, established in 1874 was:—Messrs G. G. Fitzgerald (chairman), Patter, Gibson, Seddon, Mueller, Revell and Kenrick. Mr E. T. Robinson became secretary. Mr William Cochrane states that his father arrived at Hokitika in 1864, and made the first track to Six Mile, now known as Stafford. He then returned to Queenstown, but the reports of the Ross rush brought him back soon after. The wife and family followed from Otago at the end ollltOctober, 1865. There were three sons and two daughters. They sailed from Dunedin in November in the little s.s. Kero. There were many passengers, all men excepting Mrs Cochrane. A fellow passenger was Charles Free, whom Mr Cochrane met in years after at Ross, and reminded him of the voyage, which was remarkable. The boat was small, and took four weeks : on the voyage. The captain attempted the south course first via the Bluff and Stewart Island, but after a fortnight’s battling, the ship changed course to the north, and it took another two weeks to get round by Cook Strait. They left Du,nedin originally on November 9, and landed at Hokitika on December 8. The steamer was so overdue she was believed to be lost, but great was the rejoicing when the voyage ended safely, and all landed safely at the South Spit. At that time Mr Cochrane, senr., had a store at Ross, and the son was engaged packing along the sea beach and up the Totara River to the rush. There his father obtained a mail contract to Greymouth bi-wekly, and a brother ran the. pack mail till a coach service was put on. Wipi some cousins Mr Cochrane senr. then took up land at South Hokitika, now occupied by the golf links. Three years were spent there, and then the family took a lease of Bunter Clapcott’s at Woodstock. Mr Cochrane recalls the old days and experiences very vividly, and took part in many of the stirring sporting events which were the chief recreation of the time. Mrs McLean, now in her eightysecond year, was in Hokitika as early as 1865, and resided in South Revell Street, where her husband had an hotel. He went back to Dunedin, but Anally settled in Reefton. Several members outlie family have now made their homes in Hokitika , including Mrs W. Milligan, Mrs W. Shadholt, Mrs G.' Shadbolt, and Messrs Charles McLean of Revell Street, and John McLean, of South Hokitika. Mrs McLean came originally from Scotland. She will be present at the pioneers’ I re-union. I

Street north. At that time the locality was dense bush, and native pigeons could be shot off the trees. When his wife and son Herbert arrived, the last-mentioned still residing on the same spot as his father selected first, Hokitika was then in its third year (1867). To reach their new home they had to travel along the sea beach and* thence by bush track to the dwelling, the late Joseph Brocklehurst being their guide.. The formation of the street came later, being made by prison labour. The son, Herbert, went to school originally at a private institution kept by Mrs Dunbar. The school was at the corner of Sewell and Park Streets. Later on, he went to Scott’s Academy, a school under Presbyterian influence, and a fine school it was. Mr Scott was a popular teacher, and made his mark in the teaching profession. When the school was taken over under the State system of 1876, Mr Scott removed to Timaru, where he continued teaching. The State School at the outset was under the direction of Mr E. B. Dixon, who with two other masters, Messrs Soundy and Easton, came from Victoria, as also did a mistress. Among the pupils at the school at the time who can be recalled by Mr Williams, were Moses and Solomon Goulston, Jim and George Shields, George Park, Colin Macfarlane, Peter Helming, and Adam Ellis, who was from Arahura. where his father had one of the three hotels then open there. Mr Williams remembers Mary Malumby, a young woman who was murdered one Sunday morning by a negro. She resided opposite Scott’s School. There was a hue and cry foi’ the offender, who to escape capture took to the sea, swimming far out, and eventually returning, when he was captured, it was an event which made a great stir in the

Mrs Levy, of Cobden Street, Westport, another early arrival at Hokitika, will attend the reunion. As a girl she arrived with her mother in

*£* 5 “What days of cheerful toil, what wild uproarious J ❖ nights, * % What happy days, what glorious nights Were J ❖ then; * ❖ ❖ Such mirth and merry-making, such drinking and ❖ t such fights— J t Old mate, such times they never come again.” J *♦* *£■ t —Con. O'Regan. * ❖ >*♦ »£♦ *♦* *4* *♦* *l* *4* *♦* *♦* *** *4* *♦* *4* *4* *4* *4* *l* *♦* *4* *l* *♦* *♦* *s* *s* *s* *s* *s**♦*

“Where the vanguard camps to-day, The rear shall rest to-morrow.”

1865, to join her father, Mr Singer, who arrived’the previous year in the Crag O’Aar. The mother and child came in the William Miskin. Mr W. A. Thompson, of Weld Street, ranks as one of the oldest residents of Hokitika. He is the father of the Westland Racing Club, with which he has been asociated since 1867, when the first constituted race meeting was held. Mr Thompson has taken his place also as a useful citizen, and served various terms on local bodies, including the Borough Council, Hospital Board and others. Mr Thompson was chairman of the Public Works Committee of the Hokitika Council’when a number of major works wfere carried through. His sons followed in his footsteps, and gave useful service in the Fire Brigade, Borough Council and other local activities. Mr Thompson held important positions in the Racing Club, and was starter for a number of years, being an active member of the Club when the extensive improvement scheme was carried out in 1897. Mr Thompson, now in his ninety-third year, has atended nearly all the annual meetings of the club, of which he is a life honorary member.

Other early residents of the town, stil living there,, are Mr Thomas Fitzsimmons, who will be remembered on the staff of the “West Coast Times,” and afterwards a theatre proprietor; Miss J. Fitzsimmons (a sister) residing in Sale Street, who was a popular perforate,r at local concerts, and another sister, Mrs Harvey, widow of the late Henry Harvey, a former secretary of the Hokitika Harbour Board. A third sister, Mrs Lieske, resides in Christchurch. These folk arrived as young people in 1865 with their parents, who were in business in Revell Street, and can recall many memor

ies of the old days.