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| " Digger" AKA Miner Prospecting for gold |
This month of August
2017 has marked 150 year Jubilee for the
Thames Goldfield in New Zealand. This got me to thinking about the goldfields
and goldrushes of the 1800's along with the poetry and song of
the goldfields. The 1840's through to the 1870's saw the world engaged in gold
rushes to newly found goldfields. Fortune hunters the world over flocked to
newly discovered goldfields hoping to their fortune. " Diggers" - a
name given to those early
goldminers - went in their droves to the
new goldfields via ship, via overland, via foot. They came from all parts of
the world - Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, China, Australia, New Zealand. Many moved from
one goldfield to another and back.
At the time of the
gold rushes to California and Australia there was another migration taking
place from Nova Scotia - the gaelic
speaking, Highland Settlers who came to
Waipu, New Zealand, led by the
Reverend McLeod. Arriving in Australia they found that land prices of good
coastal land , were very high because of
the Victorian Gold Rush. Some of their number stayed on the goldfields and some
made the decision to move on to New Zealand after a typhoid epidemic claimed the lives of
three sons of Rev. McLeod.
Three of the ships that bought the Highland settlers to Waipu were acquired by Henderson and Macfarlane Circular Saw Shipping - the clipper schooner Gazelle, barque Breadalbane and brig Gertrude. The directors, captains and shipping vessels of this early shipping company were involved in miscellaneous trade and passengers on regular runs. This included " diggers" to the goldfields of California, Australia and New Zealand.
A
number of the Waipu settlers spent time on the Thames Goldfields working timber
contracts and involved with mines. Amongst them were Donald Murray McLeod,
Norman McLean, John David McKenzie.
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| Thames Goldfields early 1870s Photo taken by HT Gorrie courtesy from Gwen Buttle photo album. Please do not copy - seek permission to use.
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Goldfields of California
John Sutter's mill in California 24 January 1848 , became the scene of a gold rush when James W. Marshall discovered gold in a river there.
The Miner's Song
v. In 1849 I came to Sutter’s Mill and staked my claim
With my shovel, pickaxe, and pan, I was a
forty-niner grand
I swirled my washbowl, swung my pick, my only
goal to get rich quick
A frenzied fervour seized my soul, just had to
have California gold.
Chorus:
Gold, gold, gotta have gold
Gold, gold, get me some gold
Gold, gold, gotta have gold
Gold, gold, get me some gold
v. I left my home to seek my fame, I traveled in a wagon train
With my shovel,
pickaxe, and pan, I was a forty-niner grand
I swirled my washbowl, swung my pick, my only
goal to get rich quick
A frenzied fervour seized my soul, just had to
have California gold.
Chorus:
v. So many joined this gold rush craze and
hundreds came here everyday
With my shovel,
pickaxe, and pan, I was a forty-niner grand
I swirled my washbowl, swung my pick, my only
goal to get rich quick
A frenzied fervour seized my soul, just had to
have California gold.
Chorus:
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| Gold Washing |
One
such digger who became known as one of the
49er's was Charles Ring and his brother Frederick Ring from Guernsey,
one of the Channel Islands,, settled in Tasmania Australia with parents and moved to Auckland New Zealand
about 1841, farming. The brig Fanny
belonging then, to Henderson and Macfarlane,
left on 5 June 1849 for San Francisco and the Californian goldfields. On
board was passenger Charles Ring and brother Frederick heading for the opportunity to make their fortunes in
the diggings of the Yuba River and then on
in the Sacramento Valley,
California. " Digging " was a hard life for those early diggers known
as 49ers. They used large long tom sluices, rocker boxes, pans, and ground
sluice operations to recover the gold from the gravel of the river - in slush
and water.it was hard work. Some were successful and many not - hence poems and
songs of the drudgery and work. Songs and poems of travel to get to the
goldfields - sometimes a "digger" did not survive the journey.
Oh California
First written by Stephen Foster as " Oh
Suzanna" the words were said to have been adjusted by one John Nichols and
called "Oh California", It became a very popular song of the diggers who became known across the world as
the 49ers
v. I come from Salem City with my washpan on my
knee,
I'm going to California, the gold dust for to
see.
It rained all day the day I left, the weather
it was dry
The sun so hot I froze to death Oh brothers,
don't you cry.
Chorus:
Oh, Susanna
Don't you cry for me
I'm going to California
With my washpan on my knee.
v. I jumped aboard the Liza ship and traveled on the sea,
And every time I thought of home I wished it
wasn't me;
The vessel reared like any horse, that had of
oats and wealth
I found it wouldn't throw me so I thought I'd
throw myself.
Chorus:
v. I thought of all the pleasant times we've had together here
I thought I ought to cry a bit but couldn't
find a tear;
The pilot's bread was in my mouth, the gold
dust in my eye
And though I'm going far away dear brothers
don't you cry.
Chorus:
v. I soon shall be in Frisco, and there I'll look around,
And when I see the gold lumps I'll pick them
off the ground-
I'll scrape the mountains clean, my boys, I'll
drain the rivers dry
A pocket full of rocks bring home so brothers,
don't you cry.
Chorus:
Page 282 Taylor, Bayard. 1850. Eldorado; or, Adventures in
the path of Empire: comprising a voyage to California, via Panama, life in San
Francisco and Monterey, pictures of the gold region, and experiences of Mexican
travel. With illustrations by the author. London: Richard Bentley. Courtesy FLICKR British Library
Charles Ring was
said to be fairly successful on the Californian diggings.
(However following a ship wreck on the way to
diggings on the coast, Ring made a decision to return to Australia, boarding as
passengers, the brig Ceres , which
sailed out of San Francisco Bay 14 June 1851.)
Ceres too was shipwrecked on a reef near the
Fiji Islands. Fortunately for Ring and the other passengers, they were rescued
by the whaler Daniel Watson. From an
open small boat they had set out for Queensland in, The whaler dropped them off
at Auckland New Zealand. It was not long
after that Charles and his brother exchanged farming for timber milling
on the Coromandel Peninsula. With talk in Auckland of possible gold and gold fever still in Charles, the brothers
set to finding gold on the Coromandel.
FOOTNOTE: Ruby Ring , grand daughter of Charles Ring, ' digger' and discover of gold married Alan Rutherford Gorrie, son of William Gorrie Junr. William Gorrie Jnr and his brother Henry Thomson Gorrie were both at Thames Goldfield in the early years of its opening. Henry Thomson or HT was a clerk at the Bank of New Zealand, Thames, with a hobby of photography. Both these two men became familiar with the goldfields of New Zealand.
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| courtesy graphic.com |
For songs from the Goldfields of Australia:-
For songs from the Goldfields of New Zealand:-
Reference:
- Taylor, Bayard. 1850. Eldorado; or, Adventures in the path of Empire: comprising a voyage to California, via Panama, life in San Francisco and Monterey, pictures of the gold region, and experiences of Mexican travel. With illustrations by the author. London: Richard Bentley. Courtesy FLICKR British Library
- Charles Ring in Cyclopaedia New Zealand, Auckland Province 1902 p 438 also on NZETC ( NZ Electronic Text Centre, Victoria University ) accessed August 30 2017
- Sherwin, Sterling, and Katzan , Louis. 1932. Songs of the gold miners : a golden collection of songs as sung by and about the Forty-Niners. New York: C Fisher.
- New Zealand Herald 28 September 1895 Page 1 Supplement
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