GABRIEL'S GULLY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 81, 25 May 1911, Page 6

GABRIEL'S GULLY.

AX IiJHTHIHH AND RO.MANTiU STORY. In the history and romance ol go' ! finding during Hr- part sixty years. New Zealand has a place hind a story ns uotable and exciting .ay any e/nntj.r’s r;cords give. From the I'alifornian "n:r,lies” miners went -feverishly to tmv*n:w.tional fields 01 -Au-.i r-i ! i-i. a,..l 1u .1 the. nchuess 'of that,. IT Horatio did not-lfa!-d them when the, tab's : unit; frqm New Zealand ''that . Gahvie! U'T.d awl others had,struck gold Hreyiike ol.which laid .never br.fqre In-eu sei ii. eden in Hie poys'cssionrl he, ()ue«n -oi SI I ri 1 <5;. Hs* Goddess df Gold, 'This week the iVtmqn-feohi-fields of (dago ere being revisited, again and hre the scenes of a tinujue re urfioh. ; For on Saturday In si. May; just fifty years ago. the wonderful slrtke was truule a! Gabriel’s Gully; an;!.atT'jle iustniieo of .an executive eorniniideeyail the, survivors iff llii.it iTus’i” leave' .bfeyrij tiearehe’d for and invited to join iu.jjff ia b bratic/ii of the jubilee. \\ bereJ-fiic vtilemii ruiners could not afford to make lh: trip to Dingo, l.beir expenses have been paid, ami eonsrqueiitly the obitimers are in strung force in l/twrenee td-dnv "eeit'lwatinand lighting tbcii I'ttlTUd) and their find?, -over again. The committee go! into touch v.'ii'rf Ski snr vivors in New Zealand' find Auslr.iha, and 200 p'rotniaed jjb .dtlnid Hie reunion. Most appropriately, the prdsenr. Mnyci of Biiwronee. where tin* rally is being held, is the sort of tlid.t verv same historic Peter Robertson who directea Ghbviel Read to the.gully llvat was t .l become one of (be most roman!ic*in the iiistnry of gqbl-ininingl and Mayo;-, das. Robert son h irnkcl f / t< >0 part in the Tush PHirltfching* the creek • with a butcher's knife as his only implement, Gabriel Read 'gathered, in' TNI worth, of jga!-,!.'fi*ji bis first day’s prospecting. He at once informed the Gt-igo Provincial Supcrni d .•!!'. .-and immedialely THE RUSH BET' .IN.; ' The s6be.r.Scotch, coimbunity had looked .ajfknnce nt the infinx of mlventurers which fhty rlisf-overies eneouj-.-iged. and fur a long 'time they remained irnpassive, but the Gtt.bcielV Gully (hid el rv tad lied everyoneT 1 ?,.Vko»f« ir-iro, the 1 ueaTeyt township, was promptly ’deserted, only 1 lie iniiiiTer nipl precentor being’left, to attend Hie Sunday . service. Although it was the middle of "wittier, half Dunedin marched off m the diggings, encountering snowstorms and many Other hardships. such as lack of fuel. Timber was so scarce that a gin-case will go down in history as having changed hands at ■.Ed.. Jf was required to make,a miner's "eraVld*.’’- Gavtagc eosiiTis riinV-li as C lip a fun, and a 1- ueeessa;ri««. were tivuiond--011 sly. dear. The ..Gab rtei rush was not the' first attack ’of gold-fever that. New Zealand experienced. American, Australian. and British adventurers had been attracted to Otago ten years previously, within which period there had been reports of discoveries at Goodwood, at Matanra, and at Hindis. But it was reserved for a pioneer bearing the now historic name of Gabriel Read to a waken the people of the-.province,' Hie. whole of New Zealand...iml limn the outside"world' to a full realisation of THE KNX Hi .'•.:(,!(;•• WEALTH '■ that lay bidden in the liosmn of, tie,equntry. Ir was early),in !S(il ihal: Read, .miner with Cdiifornitii and Aixsliralian experienee, arrived in' the Tnkomidriro district;-and there, during*Uu> progress of a political rnceling, earn** into contact with joint L. Gillies, who told him that koine rmniths previously,.lie had been up to the Tuapelca district, and had learned of, the existence of gold, there, a discovery having been made by "Black Betcr” (a negro farm hand, working for Peter Robertson). Armed with a letter of introducia’on front Mr Gil Hes, 1 tlm Oiliforujan called on Mr Robertson, got. directions .as to the locality where pros peeling had been done, saw at a- glance tlm ft tin* Country was highly auriferous —bin. even he was surprised, at its richness. • "1 shovelled a wav about 2% ft of gravel,” he said afterwards, "arrived at ft. beautiful soft slate., end saw the gold shining like stars in Orion on a dirk frosty bight.” And Gabriel’s Gully wax discovered. It had a tremendous effect on Port Chalrnt-r--., , Diimnlin. arid the ' wholeGff Gtago; if ink New Zealand, for i t gav« a REMARKABLE IMPETUS to settlement. The discovery of a rich.' goldfield was He- all-absorbing topic in New Zealand and Australia g'-neraily, for such news travels fast, and in Otago purlicnbtrly the influence was fe.lt. Every-, one was infected, ami. ibTily hundreds oi people were, rushing pell-mell to the district, Tlm' i i;-It assumed enormous proportions, and a flood of emigrants from other countries quickly followed. "In a few mouths,’* it i< recorded in local history, “Otago Avas elevatqd from the position qf a comparatively unknown “ettlem'en!, to the foremokl rank among; the']»roA ipees of- New Zealand. Ih . ISGd; only (10 vessel*! .were entered iiiwjrds.' but in the following' year 250 vessels many of (hem of large, tonnage,.Urrlv-wth it port. ’J'lte 'population.! conipufed iff 'December, 1811% at HkOiVl. had inerrased by Dei! ember, Ififfl; to 30/20:).-j; Tlylijr* reveilii<; (provincial) advanced Irsiff iiS-V (HO, the amount received, for, tbs fna.Jicial year ended September MO. ISO I. to : £280,007 /in 1862. The first escort from Tnapeka 'gkildfieid brought to Dunedin oil- Apgus.f... 21, oi'.Kio/ of gold, while a fu'rtner CiOisiilerabie quantity "was brought down by private individuals. Wit.iiin a remarkably short; period of time there were several thousand people settled in Gabriel's Gully ami t'u*. vicinity. Some put the. 'number down at 17,000. but' on Ibis point 'there is no ce rt ain tv. OTHER RUSHES, Following, upon the stampede to Gabriel’s Gully,. rushes look place to .Mini roe’s Gully and Wethers tones on either .side, then to Waitahiina, Woohdmd, Waipori. E\ans’ Flat, I'adyd’s Point, Dunstun. Fox’s. (Tirdroua and (T'oimvotk-xsni; then to the West Coafit in ..IbTi-}*;/.Mca/p, time, the population vv:is being Tu’elleJ onoraiously by.oversea arrivals, uintigold was being delved out of tiro eai'tii tqi an extent far • beyoruj even tire wiblFsk dream*. And what of the-• nun wltti 'gave tin* goidfiehis this great (kiivriel Read, tile pioneer explorer, who Taddily ! and ..rapid!/ giiVe away .the secret of his greal (iiseovery to his fellow men. was voted the sum of 'C H'Ml'l by the Government of The day for li'is dis*

covery of a payable goldfield. Me eontinned to give the benefit of bis oxperieuee as a . prospector for the -development; of the mineral wealth of flic pro vinca. Later the drifted back to Tasmania. where he died a poor man in 180 L But that is the end of (he great majority of pioneer prospectors, and Gabrard'Gabriel Head's.epitaph,, if one is' necessary for the man who lias Gabriel’s fjnliy for his monument, might he: "I fcmiifl, .others eelebrated the iinding!” - yielding S'! ar. —— , i