During the 19th Century gold held an incredible hold over the imaginations of people. For many it was a quick route to wealth. As a result there were massive gold rushes in various parts of the world. The first was to California in 1848, the prospectors who took part were called ‘49er’s… This was followed by the Victorian rush in the 1850’s and the Eureka Stockade insurrection that followed. The economies of these areas grew enormously. The huge numbers of prospectors and the services they demanded created a lot of wealth (little of which actually came from finding gold).As a result the provincial Governments were desperate to find gold somewhere within their regions. Several offered rewards to anyone who could find it. New Zealand appeared to have the geology (although that was a relatively new science) so it simply appeared to be a matter of finding it. Early discoveries of ‘colour’ were made in the Coromandel but were unworkable.
Eventually as you know an Australian Gabriel Read discovered gold in Otago in May 1861 and the rush was on. The province exploded, prospectors arrived from all around the world, but especially from Victoria. Many were keen to escape the taxation and corruption of the Australian fields. In Otago they were taxed less and received larger claims to boot.
This was alluvial gold, which could initially be easily found by individuals. Later small groups or collectives formed to extract the gold from the riverbanks.
Eventually gold was also found in the West Coast, Nelson and again in the Coromandel. When news of the discovery on the Coromandel arrived in Auckland, the male population of the city disappeared overnight, emptying stores of pans, shovels and food. Many were disappointed to find the gold locked away in the rock.
These later discoveries were quartz based gold, which required even larger amounts of money, the days of the lone prospector were numbered. Companies formed in Christchurch, Wellington or Auckland were formed to buy the equipment needed to extract the rock and crush it. This needed water or steam power, and the giant stampers which kept Grahamstown (Thames) awake 6 days a week.
Gold remained an important export commodity for much of the century. Its importance lay in the changes it made to the physical and social fabric of New Zealand. Much of the South Island was now settled with towns spread from north to south and east to west. Much of the island had been explored and for a time Dunedin was the country’s largest city. South island run-holders were able to expand as the population gave them a market for their meat. The miners also brought with them a belief in equality and the early ideas of mateship that were also developing in the bush settlements of the north.
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Just curious - did the Chinese miners travel to NZ? They were treated badly on many Victoria gold fields and I was wondering how they fared in NZ?
ReplyDeleteHi Jayne,
ReplyDeletethe Chinese travelled to NZ initially at the invitation of the Otago provincial Council in the mid 1860's. the first of them came from the Victorian gold fields where as you mention they were treated quite badly. Unfortunately the same racist views they faced in Australia were also prevalent in New Zealand. However their treatment appears to have been a little better (though not much) in New Zealand. racism led to a Poll tax on them initially 10 pounds each later raised to 100 pounds. Its interesting to note that a single Chinese man, Chew Chong lived in Taranaki and was higly regarded by Pakeha because his trade in fungus had kept many farming families alive during the worst of the Long Depression. Later when he travelled back to China to visit his family they presented him with a sizeable cash gift. he even married a White woman without much of a problem.
Thanks for the question.
Thanks Henry! :)
ReplyDelete