ARAWATA BILL SLEEPS OUT AGAIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26504, 4 July 1947, Page 6

ARAWATA BILL SLEEPS OUT AGAIN

Prqspecting fever and the call of the back-country of Central Otago com bined to entice Mr William O’Learybetter known as “Arawata Bill away from the comforts of the Sacred Heart Home at Anderson’s Bay to his old haunts in the Queenstown district The Little Sisters of the Poor made every effort to dissuade the 85-year-old prospector from going to Central Otago But he was adamant. He caught a bus for Queenstown, his headquarters for many years, and tried to return to the life he knew and enjoyed. That was over a week ago. Now Mr O’Leary is back at the Sacred Heart Home and at the moment he is convinced that his prospecting days are over. He spent a few days in bed and is none the worse for his adventure. " It’s a good bed," he told one of the sisters. "It’s better than lying out under a tree.’’ The sisters are amazed that a man of 85 years of age could do what Mr O’Leary has done in the past few days and not be in the throes of pneumonia. , Every now and again since he came to live in Dunedin "Arawata Bill" has felt periodic urges to return to the back-country and resume his wandering life, and the most recent impulse was stronger than usual. He wanted.to go in search of a tin dish he had stowed away in the Queenstown area and prove to anyone at the home that he could still find gold. He went to Queenstown and began his prospecting. It was unfortunate that the cold change in the weather should have coincided with the old man s return to the Lake Country, for he was forced to sleep out under a tree and the snow was thick on the ground. “Aiawata Bill’s” early life must have stood him in good stead for he is none the worse for the adventure.

Born at Wetherstones shortly after Gabriel Read discovered gold in the district, Mr O’Leary lived a wanderer’s life until he retired about eight years ago and went to live near Queenstown. His hut on the One Mile road was perhaps a little too near the country he loved and he came to live at the Sacred Heart Home at Anderson’s Bay. At one time he was prospecting dt the Lindis, at Manorburn, the Dart, and, in fact, in most parts of the Lake Country. A lot of his time was spent in the little known Arawata country and it was because of his association with this river that he received his nick-name. The sisters at the Sacred Heart Home hope that this will be the last of the old wanderings and that he will settle down to life in civilisation. But “Arawata Bill” will no doubt always cast a nostalgic eye over his shoulder to the hills of Central Otago and the country where he spent more than half a century.