Mobile Unit. St Bathans Gold Rush

Rights Information
Year
1948
Reference
5848
Media type
Audio
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Rights Information
Year
1948
Reference
5848
Media type
Audio
Series
Mobile Unit - NZ oral history, 1946-1948
Categories
Interviews (Sound recordings)
Oral histories
Sound recordings
Duration
00:26:44
Credits
RNZ Collection
Pyle, Frank (b.1886), Speaker/Kaikōrero
New Zealand Broadcasting Service. Mobile Recording Unit, Broadcaster

Frank Pyle describes life in early St Bathans, Otago. He discusses gold mining, transport, rabbits, entertainment, storekeepers and their credit system, and stories of local characters.

He begins by speaking about the arrival of his grandfather, who had decided to open a shop. The family travelled by bullock dray from Dunedin, and set up in St Bathans (then known as Dunstan Creek), where there a gold digging had been struck. There were around two thousand gold diggers in the area at the time. His grandfather wasn't a miner - he originally came from Carlisle, then farmed in Australia, and worked in shipping in Dunedin before coming to St Bathans.

When his grandfather opened his store, it was originally a canvas construction, like most of the town in those days. The stock sold within days, as the miners had a lot of money. They sometimes paid with gold dust. When the gold rush petered out they went into the "grubstake" business. His grandfather also sold gold in Australia.

Mr Pyle goes on to speak about canvas hotels in early St Bathans, and says some people even lived in holes dug out of the ground, which would be covered with iron sheeting.

He says the main gold claim was located on the lake, and was called Kildare Hill. It was later owned by John Nelly. He says it was recognised as one of the richest leads in the world, and also as the deepest elevating claim. In his grandfather's time it was a small hill, but now it is a hole. Originally it was dug out and shafted, but later it was sluiced.

He says what is currently the Vulcan Hotel was one of the first mud/sun-dried brick buildings in Otago.

When Mr Pyle was a boy, St Bathans had a population of a few hundred people. His father worked in storekeeping, some mining, dispensed medicine, and also did some rudimentary doctoring work as there were no local doctors.

He recalls seeing bullock teams as a boy, with eight or ten bullocks to a wagon. Dinny Daley was a bullock team driver. The groceries for the family store were transported from Hyde or Palmerston by wagons pulled by draught horses.

He then briefly mentions Chinese miners, and there were also several Irishmen, Scotsmen, and Welshmen in the area. St Patrick's Day was celebrated with brass bands, and a bit of drinking. He recalls local Irish characters from when he was younger, and their amusing sayings.

He then talks about rabbits, which were scarce in the early days but later became a problem. Attempts to control the rabbit population included phosphorus poisoning and trapping.

The gold miners entertained themselves with bands, sports, and dances. There was socialising in the hotels and the attached "skittle alleys". Cricket and football were popular, and he recalls a football match which lasted a full day.

There is then discussion about the water races, which could be up to forty miles long, to bring water for the gold diggings.

He says the miners were paid every six months, and so his father let them buy goods on 'tick' (credit). The bills were settled when the miners got their pay - though sometimes there were a few bad debts.

He speaks about the coach driver, Mr Waller, who saved a number of passengers when the coach was overturned in the flooded Manuherikia River. He then goes on to talk about schools, and says that the first schoolmaster was Mr Darling. He says in the early days the cost of living was quite high - milk was expensive, so people would get goats for milking.

The interview ends with Mr Pyle telling a story about "Jimmy the Grunter", who was a very short man with long arms, long hair, and a quarrelsome nature.