WHO FIRST FOUND GOLD?

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22515, 24 September 1938, Page 23

WHO FIRST FOUND GOLD?

II (sfzciau/t warms fob thb nuts*.) [By KAUMATUA.] covery Coalbrookdale, and to him algj we owe the name Burnett’s Face, in honour of Mr James Burnett, one of his companions. Von Haast in due course arrived at Collingwood, and was back in Nelson after an absence of seven months. The official report which he prepared was curtailed by a parsimonious government. His, the first scientific and literary description of the immense region traversed, makes very interesting reading today. Von Haast states that he found several pieces of coarse gold in the Mangles and that he found “the colour" in the-beds of the Buller and Owen. His discoveries were not extensive, but he was' confident from his observations as a geologist that payable gold would be discovered later. So far there had been no really important find of gold on the West Coast, but greater things were pending, and it is beyond doubt that the first impressive finds were made by Maoris - whose; names' have not been • preserved. Whether they were influenced by (the news of Rochfort’s discovery or by their own knowledge of-the country, cannot now be determined. We have it on the authority,of Reuben Waite,, a Col-

THE next news of gold having been found on the Coast came in 1859. In October of that year, a survey party, headed by Mr John Rochfort, set out from Nelson in a small vessel, Iheir programme being to ascend the Buller and Inangahua and follow the Grey valley to the *ea. About 20 miles up the Buller, travelling by canoe, they found fteveral pennyweights of “the royal • foetal," and Rochfort records that lie had some difficulty in persuading his men to travel further inasfouch as the prospect of gold-getting {was more alluring than the work bf surveying. The party’s Maori Jguide missed the Inangahua, and ■they proceeded into the wilder topper reaches of the Buller until {their canoe was swamped and their Ifeppplies lost at the spot still known Rochfort’s Fall, near Lyell. They then struck westward across the ranges, striking the sea coast a (few miles north of the Buller. It is no detraction from Rochfort’s Achievement to say that, in view of jthe earlier discoveries already mentioned, it is quite incorrect to credit Jhim with the first discovery of gold fen the West Coast. We find the (error in official publications, however; The locality where he found gold became well known as “the old diggings," a name which is still remembered. . In January, 1860, Dr. von Haast, Afterwards well known as Sir Julius Von Haast, led an expedition to the * West Coast for the Nelson Provincial Government to advise on the best route for a road to the Grey from Nelson and to report generally on the territory traversed. Von Haast’s party travelled by the Motueka (Motu-weka) and Motupiko valleys to Lakes Rotoiti and Rotoroa, the sources of the Buller, . and following the Tirumea and Tu-taki-or Mangles rivers, they struck the Buller near what is now Murchison. Thence they followed, the Buller to its junction with the Maruia and proceeded up the . Maruia valley, from which they crossed into the Brown Grey, so named from the colour of its water, and from its junction with the main Grey river they travelled to the (coast. Later the explorers ascended the Grey and Little Grey till they stood oij the ridge or saddle, where they .-".looked down the valley of the In- - angahua. Bad weather prevented them going further, and returning to Mawhera, they followed the coast . to the Buller. Von Haast could not persuade the Maoris to take his canoe beyond the Ohika, some miles below Rochfort’s find. The party climbed the range to : the north of the. Buller, however, and there on July 18,1860, discovered excellent,coal in the upper reaches of the Waimangaroa river. Von Haast named the site of his dis-

Explorers Followed by Prospectors

I lingwood storekeeper, whom the diggings had attracted from Victoria, that in April, 1860, a party of Maoris came overland from the West Coast with a parcel of gold _ which they had won about 20 miles up the Buller—undoubtedly In the locality of Rochfort’s find. Waite wrote a pamphlet in 1869, in which the facts are. set out. He describes the gold as “a splendid sample.” The, news caused some excitement and Waite chartered the ketch Jane and left shortly afterwards with stores, picks, shovels, etc., and a small party of adventurers for the Buller. The little vessel reached her destination safely, and it was found that a number of Europeans and Maoris had already arrived. There is no record that Waite did any gold seeking himself, though he and several .others made an unsuccessful attempt by canoe to reach the site of Rochfort’s discovery. He erected a rude store and became the pioneer of the present town of Westport. , ‘ The movements and discoveries of■ the others are not known. It is certain, however, that they ascended the .Buller far beyond the spot where the Maoris had obtained the gold they had brought to Collingwood,, and that they ascended the Inangahua valley. * (To be continued.)