GABRIEL'S GULLY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 310, 25 May 1911, Page 7

GABRIEL'S GULLY.

AN HISTORIC AND ROMANTIC STORY. In the history and romance of gold finding during the past sixty years, New Zealand has a place and a story as notable and exciting as any country's records give. From the Californian "rushes" miners went feverishly to the sensational fields of Australia, and even the richness of that El Dorado did not hold them when the tales came from New Zealand that Gabriel Read and others had struck gold the like of which had never before been seen, even in the possession of the Queen of Slieba, the Goddess of Gold. This week the famous gold-fields of Otago are being revisited again and are the scenes of a unique reunion. For on Saturday last, May 20, just fifty years ago, the wonderful strike was made at Gabriel's Gully; and at the instance of an executive committee all the survivors of that "rush" have been searched for and invited to join in the celebration of the jubilee. Where the veteran miners could not afTord to make the trip to Otago, their expenses have been paid, and consequently the oldtimers are in strong force in Lawrence to-day "celebrating" and fighting their battles and their finds over again. The committee got into touch with 340 survivors in New Zealand and Australia, i and 200 promised to attend the reunion. | Most appropriately, the present Mayoi of Lawrence, where the rally is being held, is the son of that very same historic Peter Robertson who directed Gabriel Read to the gully that was to become, one of the most romantic in the history of gold-mining, and Mayor Jas. Robertson himself took part in the rush. Scratching the creek with a butcher's knife as his only implement, Gabriel Read gathered in .€25 worth of gold for his first day's prospecting. He at once informed the Otago Provincial Superindint, and immediately '

THE RUSH SET IN. The sober Scotch community had looked askance at the influjjA of adventurers which the discoye.r|,Bp and for a loiig timCjthjey <enWiined impassive, but the Gabriel's'GtplW fifid electrified everyone. •TokSjßjalj'iwJ »■ the nearest township, Was promptly ' deserted, only the minister and precentor being left to 1 rnrtliiMHlflffif rt wMteT, marched off to the diggings; /encoujitcpj, ing snowstorms and many othe? liadK ships, such as lack of fuel. Timber! was so scarce that a gin-case will go down in history as having changed hands St £5. It was required :toi make a miheS's "cradle." Cartage cost as much as £l5O a ton, and all necessaries were treniendously dear. The Gabriel rush waa not the first attack of gold-fever that |New Zealand experienced. American, [Australian, and British adventurers hadfbeen attracted to Otago ten years previously, within which period there had beeji reports of discoveries at Goodwood, at Mataura, and at Lindis. But it was reserved for a pioneer bearing the' now historic name of Gabriel Read to awaken the people of the province, the whole of New Zealand, and then the outside World to a full realisation of

THE ENORMOUS WEALTH| that lay hidden in the bosom ofi the country. Ir was early in 1801 that Read, miner with Californian and Australian experience, arrived in the Tokomairiro district, and there, the pro ;ress of a political meeting, came into contact with Jolm L. Gillies, who told him that some months previously fie had'been up to the Tuapeka district, andl had learned of the existence of gold there, a discovery having been made by "Black Peter" (a negro farm hand, working for Peter Robertson). Armed with a letter of introduction from Mr Gillies, the Californian called on Mr Robertson, got directions as to the locality where prospecting had been done, saw at a glance that the country was highly aiirifcrous —but even he was surprised at its richness. "I shovelled awav about 2'/ 2 ft of gravel," he said afterwards, "arrived at a beautiful soft slate, and saw the gold shining like stars in Orion on a dark frosty night." And Gabriel's Gully was discovered. It had a tremendous effect on Port Chalmers, Dunedin, and the whole of Otago, if not New Zealand, for it gave a

REMARKABLE IMPETUS to settlement. The discovery of a rieh goldlield was the all-absorbing topic in New Zealand and Australia generally, for sueli news travels fast, and in Otago particularly the influence was felt. Everyone was infected, and daily hundreds of people were rushing pell-mell to the district. The rush assumed enormous proportions, and a llood of emigrants from other countries quickly followed. "In a few months," it is recorded in local history, "Otago was elevated from the position of a comparatively unknown settlement to the foremost rank among the provinces of New Zealand. In 1800 only 00 vessels were entered inwards, but in the following year 250 vessels many of them of large tonnage, arrived in port. Q'he population, computed in December, 1800, at 12,091, had increased by December, 1801, to 30,200. The revenue (provincial) advanced from £83,040, the amount received for the financial year ended September ,'SO, 1801, to £280,007 in 1802. The first escort from Tuapeka goldiield brought to Dunedin on August 21, 50i500z of gold, while a further considerable quantity was brought down by private individuals. Within a remarkably short period of time there were several thousand people settled in Gabriel's Gully and the vicinity. Some put the number down at 17,000, but on this point there is no certainty. OTHER RUSHES. "Following upon the stampede to Gabriel's Gully, rushes took place to Munroc's Gully and Wetherstones on either side, then to Waitahunn, Woolshed, Waipori, Evans' Flat, Padyd's Point, Punstan, Fox's, Cardrona and Cromwell, and then to the West Coast in ISO 4. Meantime, the population was being swelled enormously bv oversea arrivals, ami gold was being delved out of the earth to an extent far beyond even the wildest dreams. And what of the man who gave the goldiields this great impetus? Gabriel Road, the pioneer explorer, who readily and rapidlv gave away the secret of his great discovery to his fellow men, was voted the sum of £IOOO by the Government of the day for his discovery of a payable goldlield. He. continued to give the benefit of his experience as a prospector for the development of the mineral wealth of the province. Later he drifted back to Tasmania, where he died a poor man in 1804, But that is the end of the great majority of pioneer prospectors, and Gabriel Gabriel Read's epitaph, if one is necessary for the man who has Gabriel's Gully for his monument, might lie: "I found, others celebrated the finding!"--Fielding Star,