Sunday 19 April 2015

Dubbo Goldmining Company Ltd Karangahake

Tunnel of Water Waitawheta and Dubbo Stream - photo CRB 2010

A network of tracks in the area - what is now known as the Dubbo, Crown, Mangakino, Waitawheta   tracks area - All in an area steeped in the history of Goldmining on the Ohinemuri Goldfields at Karangahake.

Back in 1885 The Dubbo Gold Mining Company Ltd  was formed with 30 shareholders. The same year as The Woodstock Gold and Silver Mining and Smelting Company (Limited) headed later by William Gorrie ( brother of Henry Thomson Gorrie ) as Chairman of Directors.

The Dubbo Gold Mining Company Limited
2. place of operations is at Karangahake, in Provincial District of Auckland, in colony of New Zealand.
3. Registered Office of Company will be situated at New Zealand Insurance Company , Auckland, in Provincial District of Auckland and Colony of New Zealand.
4. Nominal Capital of Company is twenty five thousand pounds sterling, In fifty thousand Shares of ten shillings each
5. Number of Shares subscribed for is fifty thousand, being entire number of shares in Company.
6. Number of Shares paid up is nil.
7. amount already paid up is nil.
8. name of Manager is Roderick McDonald Scott.
9. Names and addresses, and occupations of Shareholders, and number of Shares held by each at this date are as follows:-
 
 
Taken before me this seventh day of December, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five. (Signed) D.B. McDonald, Justice of the Peace. Witness to  Signature W. Boon.
 
The shareholders were typical of those forming Gold Mining Companies in those early years 1875 to 1896 - amongst them -  James McCosh Clark, a merchant who had been involved with Waiorongomai, Thomas Morrin, also involved with the Waihi Gold Mining Company Ltd, Henry Thomson Gorrie who also had interest in gold mines and gold mining shares and later years the Chairman of Directors with James Russell of Talisman Gold Mining Company ( Limited ). There were several mining agents - amongst them one Richard Spratt - who died in 1895 and who was a prominent and active member of the Mining Exchange and advisor to the London shareholders of Waihi Gold Mining Company Ltd. There were other merchants - John Chambers - formerly connected with the  Tangyes Company and who now supplied pumping and winding machinery, stamp batteries, and electric transmission of power to the Mining Industry from his warehouse in Fort Street, Auckland.

Not much happened with the Dubbo up there near the Karangahake trig. Even when there was a " mining flurry " when Talisman Consolidated Ltd under Bewick Moreing & Company did some driving.
 
All lay idle until a slump in the late 1920's drove a renewed interest in this mine and The Talisman - Dubbo Gold Mining Company Limited was formed with seven owners.

Near Trig Karangahake - photo JM Stewart about 1979 -1980s

Reference Source:
  • Downey, F. Gold Mines Of The Hauraki District, New Zealand. G.B. Loney, Government Printer . Wellington: G.B. Loney, Government Printer, 1935. Karangahake Area P199-21
  •  New Zealand Gazette 18 Mar 1886
  • Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1884 Session I, H-09 THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND (REPORT ON). http://atojs.natlib.govt.nz accessed 17/08/2013
  • Papers Past National Library NZ Page 1 Advertisements Column 4 New Zealand Herald, 8 December 1885, Page 1
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Sunday 12 April 2015

World War 1 - They Served in Gallipoli

ANZAC Parade RSA Whangamata - Photo HM Stewart

This month marks 100 years since World War 1. Coromandel Peninsula Council ( TCDC) are planning a memorial forest to mark the loss of approximately 18500 in WW1 and honour those soldiers with a tree in their memory.
 
The first major campaign was at Gallipoli and 25 April marks the date each year we remember ANZAC Day. On 25 April 1915  troops from New Zealand, Australia Britain, and France landed at Gallipoli. This  campaign  ended with the evacuation of troops on 19 and 20 December 1915.
 
Thinking about the many events there are to mark the 100 years in 2015 is also a time to reflect on the effects and influence of WW1 upon a family and close friends.
 
My wider family and extended family as with hundreds of other families from New Zealand and Australia were touched by WW1. Typical of many families in those late 1800s early 1900s families were often large and sons and daughters marrying meant  an even wider extended family - uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, cousins.  When war broke out a number  enlisted in those early years  of the war .  One of the first places they fought was Gallipoli.
 
Some went on to fight in other campaigns; some were wounded and on recovery were sent to other battlefields and other units; some were wounded and died later as an outcome of those wounds sustained on the battlefields of Gallipoli. Some were killed in action. After the war a number came home but some did not and it was an empty place at table and in heart for kith and kin at home. For a family never the same again.
 
 
 
The following are of my wider and extended family members who fought at Gallipoli - The ANZAC's -  'Remembered"
 
 

Family at War

 
Lieutenant. 12/6 3rd Auckland Company, Auckland Infantry Battalion. Occupation at Enlistment: Clerk. Son of James Buchanan Macfarlane and Edith Mary Macfarlane ( nee Durrieu).
Macfarlane was in those first onslaughts at Gallipoli ( eight days fighting at Gaba Tepe and Sari Bair )in April and May 1915, was wounded and on his return temporarily to New Zealand aboard the Willochra in an interview with the Waikato Times : -
 
"Two men in particular I would like to pay a tribute to, added Lieutenant Macfarlane." They were Privates Heald and Bickerton. After I had been lying there for half an hour, Heald came wriggling over to me. He tried to get me on his back, but no sooner had he got me on to his knees and endeavoured to lift me than he was shot dead. He must have been killed instantly. A little later Bickerton came crawling to my aid. Before he could get to me he was pinked through the arm. Nothing daunted, others of my company prepared to sacrifice their lives for me. I called out to them not to try again, and simply had to order them away," ( 16/07/1915)
 
The Australia and New Zealand Army Corps landed at a small bay north of Kabatepe on the Gallipoli peninsula on 25 April 1915. Their objective was to seize part of the Sari Bair range. By the beginning of May things looked bleak with many lives lost, including Officers and friends of Macfarlane.
 

Sydney Haldane Heald,  Private. 12/130   Son of Richard Arthur and Caroline Heald, of Auckland. Born at Thames, Coromandel Peninsula,  was killed in action at Gallipoli on 8 May 1915. Twelve Tree Copse (New Zealand) Memorial. He was killed in action during the gallant attempt to  rescue of Lieutenant James Blyth Macfarlane. In memory of this a street in One Tree Hill, Auckland was named Heald Road. ( NZ Herald 05/07/1915) 
Macfarlane, once recovered from the wounds returned to war to fight on other battlefields.
 
 

WW1 Sergeant.  4/509 Sapper New Zealand Engineers, Divisional Signals Company & Royal Field Artillery. Occupation at Enlistment: Banker. Oldest son of Thomas Henry Hanna and  Laura Beatrice Hanna ( nee McRae)

Hanna landed on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and saw action until the end of July when he was evacuated to a New Zealand military hospital in Cairo with dysentry. Hanna followed his uncle John Robert Hanna's footsteps and took a number of photographs of  the Gallipoli campaign. ( The album now in the National Army Museum)

The New Zealand Herald reporting on the importance of Quinn's Post in soldiers letters  October 1915 wrote from Hanna :-

" The character of the fighting at Quinn's 'Post is described by Sapper Hanna, who relates the incidents of two small attacks during the second week in June:—"On the first attempt, we took the section of trench we wanted at the point of the bayonet, without much loss and captured about 30 prisoners," he writes. "This was at 11 p.m., and we held it until 4 a.m. Then the Turks started with hand grenades and by 6 a.m. had bombed us out and back to our trenches through a communication trench we had constructed in the meantime. They followed this up by bombing our first trench until all overhead cover was carried away, and rendered the trench untenable. They simply showered bombs, and we were to situated that we could not effectively bomb back—the Bomb is really the only antidote for the bomb. The second attack was on a smaller scale but we fared even worse. The objective was only a small wing trench, but we failed badly, and had a fair number of casualties."(02/10/1915)


Hanna left the Divisional Signals Company and obtained a commission as Lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery. He was wounded in 1917.

After the war in 1921 Hanna married Phyllis Edith Macfarlane ( daughter of prominent community workers  for support of troops ( James Buchannan and Edith Mary Macfarlane )and sister of Lieutenant James Blyth Macfarlane.)


Hanna went back to banking after the war and was to eventually be  General Manager of the  National Bank of New Zealand.
Lieutenant. 1796 1st Field Ambulance, Reinforcement 4, Australian Army Pay Corps. Occupation at Enlistment : Clerk.  Son of  William Henry Tunks and Charlotte Emily Tunks ( nee Harper ) On Keith's return from the war in 1920 there was a welcome home by both the Parramatta Welcome Home  Committee and at his sister's house ( Mrs Gladys Woods) where the table decorated in Tunk's regimental colours, was shared by his family members with much celebration.
 
Tunks wrote back home regularly and sent letters, articles and photos to the local Parramatta newspaper, the Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate. An extensive letter appeared in this newspaper from Weymouth:

"'The Argus' received this mail the following interesting letter from Keith Tunks, son of the late Mr. W. H. and Mrs. Tunks, of Parramatta: — 'Australian and New Zealand Base Depot, ' 'Monte Video Camp, Weymouth, 21st November, 1915. 'So much was written, and no doubt is still being written and published, of the doings in the various military encampments throughout Australia, that it may perhaps be of unusual interest to readers to learn a little in regard to the Australian and New Zealand camp here. The camp was established some six months ago for the purpose of accommo dating and the further training of soldiers of the Commonwealth Military Forces who have been invalided to England from the Dardanelles with either sickness or wounds, and are now almost fit for return to the front. Weymouth is about 330 miles distant from London on the South Coast, and in considered one of England 's finest sea-side resorts. The camp itself, however, is situated some two miles out from the township at a village known as Monte Video or Chickerell…………………………" ( 08/01/1916)

 
photo courtesy Trove Newspapers  National Library Australia
The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate Saturday 14 August 1915 Page 10

Private. 2019. 17th Infantry Battalion Australian Flying Corps. Occupation at Enlistment: Telephone Mechanic. Son of George Tunks and Henrietta Tunks  ( nee Barnett)Stanley went to Gallipoli and returned to Australia 2 March 1919. He was awarded the Star Medal, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He embarked on the ship HMAT Runic A54

 
Corporal 12/365  Auckland Infantry Battalion . Occupation at Enlistment. Occupation at Enlistment: Ironmonger. Son of William Hollis and Sarah Hollis ( nee Compston ) Born and bred in Waihi, Hollis was one of the children of one of the earliest Waihi families.
The Ohinemuri Gazette reported the contribution of officers and men from 6th Hauraki amongst them Corporal Hollis in September 1914. The Auckland Star on 15 May 1915 reported Robert Vincent Hollis of Waihi wounded.
The Hauraki Regiment provided 250 man companies for the three battalions of the Auckland Regiment during World War 1.The 6th Hauraki Company of the Auckland Battalion, was recruited in the No. 2 Area Group of the Auckland Military District, comprising the areas and towns of Coromandel, Thames, Paeroa, Morrinsville, Rotorua, Opotiki, Whakatane, Tauranga, Katikati, Waihi. 
 
 
Neville Longbourne Vickerman C Eng, FICE, FNZIE  Sapper promoted to 2nd Lieutenant 4/1013 Field Engineers. Eldest son of Alfred Herbert Vickerman and Elizabeth Charlotte Vickerman ( nee Gorrie),  son of niece of James Stewart MINST, first cousin of Hugh Vickerman DSO, OBE, MSc, MICE, MNZIE who also served in WW1 with the NZ Tunnelling Company. Neville Longbourne Vickerman attended Auckland Grammar School and Auckland University College. After the war Neville married and continued employment as Engineer with the Auckland Harbour Board. Neville Longbourne Vickerman served four years with the NZ Engineers in Gallipoli, Egypt and France in World War 1

Keith Longbourne Vickerman  Lieutenant 40694 Auckland Regiment Occupation at Enlistment Surveyors Assistant, brother of Neville Longbourne also served in WW1 and was awarded the NZ Military Cross.
All three  followed in family footsteps in the field of Surveying and Engineering.

 
Andrew George Christian Captain 1st Australian Infantry Battalion. Occupation before Enlistment : Senior Telephone Assistant, Parramatta. Husband of Minnie Laura Christian ( nee Tunks) Son of William and Mary Ann Christian. Christian was well known in the sport of cricket and friendly societies at Parramatta. He left three children aged 10 years to 20 years.
Killed in Action 01 May 1915  Gallipoli Peninsula Turkey Shrapnel Valley Cemetery.   Special Mention for Conspicuous Gallantry
John Mainer Corbett   Second Lieutenant 12/1600 Auckland Infantry Battalion, 6th (Hauraki) Company Occupation at Enlistment: Assayer & Metallurgist Waihi Grand Junction Mine. Son of Edward Mann Corbett and Mary Ann Corbett ( nee Mainer) Corbett's father Edward Mann Corbett was a mining engineer and very early settler of the Waitekauri area.
Killed in Action 08/06/1915 at Quinn's  Post  Lone Pine Memorial ANZAC Turkey
The Ohinemuri Journal reported in June 1915:
 Lieutenant J. M. Corbett, who is reported in one of the latest casualty lists as "missing at the Dardanelles, is well-known in this district, being a brother of Mr H. M. Corbett (chairman of the Ohinemuri County Council). He had previously been reported as wounded, and later as recovered. ( 16/06/1915)

 Again in January 1916 the Ohinemuri Gazette reported Corbett a Court of Inquiry pronouncing the death of Corbett. Those early days of  reporting war events often led to differing reports at times.

Second Lieutenant 12/1026 Auckland Infantry Battalion, Machine-gun Section. Occupation at Enlistment: Clerk. Son of Robert Frater and Martha Frater (nee Brown)Uncle of Marion Henderson Upton ( nee Frater )  Frater's father was land agent and stockbroker of the well-known firm Frater Bros.
 
Died of Wounds At sea HMHS Selam ex Gallipoli 30/04/1915 Lone Pine Memorial ANZAC Turkey
 
A Soldiers Letter appearing from Sergeant L. R. Darrow ( brother of F. B. Darrow, of Te Kuiti.) in the King Country Chronicle referred to the loss of good friends:-
Don Lana, from Avondale, was killed the first day. Roy Lambert, the great footballer, was a great friend of mine and a splendid chap, was also killed. Walter Grierson, from Epsom, also was killed, and Bob Frater, son of Robert Frater, an old schoolchum of mine." (  24/07/1915)
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The school was Auckland Grammar School where Frater had been regarded as a good runner. Frater also enjoyed tennis at the Eden/Epsom Tennis Club where a member. Three months after Frater died ,  Darrow , Frater's friend was also killed in action on 10 August 1915 Gallipoli Chunuk Bair (New Zealand) Memorial.
 
Captain 12/294 Auckland Infantry Regiment 6th Hauraki. Occupation at Enlistment: Teacher. Eldest son of John Alexander Algie and Agnes Algie ( nee Macmillan) Married Alice Victoria Elizabeth Algie ( nee Corlett) Algie's son Donald Colvin Algie was born in 1915. As with a number of young men prior to WW1, Colvin Stewart Algie  attended University of Auckland (as did his brother Ronald Macmillan Algie)  and is also recorded on their Roll of Honour. Colvin's father a Postmaster, saw the family at Paeroa for a time.

"Sunday 25 April "

At daybreak this morning the sound of a heavy big gun bombardment could be heard.  The business commenced.  We were now almost abreast of Gaba Tepe our landing place …"


Captain Colvin Stewart Algie kept a comprehensive  diary while in Gallipoli, giving a good account of the campaign- transcribed  excepts can be read on the Millett - Algie Connection. From Gallipoli Algie went on to other battlefields and was

Killed in Action 21 July 1916 Somme, France. Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery Armentieres

George Macfarlane Stewart Sergeant 12/256 Auckland Infantry Regiment. Occupation at Enlistment: Barrister in the firm of Bamford & Brown. Youngest son of  James Stewart and Henrietta Ferguson Stewart ( nee Macfarlane). Stewart was born in Toowoomba, Australia -  the year before his father a Banker and Senior Inspector with the National Bank Queensland and formerly Banker and Inspector with the National Bank in New Zealand  died. The family returned to Auckland New Zealand near to his uncle James Buchanan Macfarlane.

Stewart attended as did many of those who went to war Auckland Grammar School ( after secretary of the Old Boys Association for a number of years ) He went on to University of Auckland graduating with a LLB. Stewart's name is on the Roll of Honour and in a Law Society Roll of Honour WW1 and obituary.
 Stewart as with his cousin James Blyth Macfarlane and many close school friends fought at Gallipoli in those early days of the offensive 25 April 1915. Enlisting in the main Expeditionary Force he came right through the Gallipoli campaign scathless, but after the Suvla Bay incident contracted influenza and was invalided to England.

Stewart went on to other battlefields and at the Somme he died from wounds during the battle of Polygon Wood, France 30 September 1916. Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt-l'Abbe, Somme, France.
 
 
 
Corporal 12/367 Auckland Infantry Battalion. Occupation at Enlistment: Engineer A B Price Auckland. Second son of James Hally and Elizabeth Hally ( nee Davis) Brother of Jessie Hally ( married Charles Stewart - brother in law of Charles James ) Charles grew up in Cambridge in a family of nine siblings.
Died of Wounds 26 July 1915 at sea ex Gallipoli  Lone Pine Memorial Lone Pine Cemetery ANZAC Turkey

The Waikato Times reported :
" Mr and Mrs James Hally, of Cambridge, have received particulars of the doings of their son, Corporal Charles James Hally, who was killed at the Dardanelles on the 26th of last month. He was wounded on 8th May and was then sent to the hospital at Cairo. He was passed as fit for service again on 8th July and went to the Dardanelles again, being killed as above. Their other son, "Jack," has also been wounded, and is now in one of the English hospitals; and yet another son, "Colin," hopes to get away with a contingent that will depart about November next". ( 20 / 08 /1915)

Private 12/1649 Auckland Infantry Battalion 3rd Reinforcements. Third son of James Hally and Elizabeth Hally ( nee Davis) Brother of Jessie Hally ( married Charles Stewart - brother in law of Jack ) John Phillip AKA Jack  grew up in Cambridge in a family of nine siblings. John Phillip Hally  joined the Duke of Cambridge Lodge 12 December 1911. Hally attended Auckland University College.
John Phillip Hally was wounded in the thigh  at Gallipoli, sent to an English Hospital and then in February 1916 home to Cambridge. Hally died at Cambridge, New Zealand  on 19 August 1929 said to be from the effects of the wound at Gallipoli.

Lieutenant  23935 New Zealand Machine Gun Battalion. Occupation at Enlistment: Solicitor. Fourth and youngest son of James Hally and Elizabeth Hally ( nee Davis) Brother of Jessie Hally ( married Charles Stewart - brother in law of Colin )  Colin Hally attended Hamilton High School and Auckland University College.
Colin "got away with a contingent " and  was killed in action 6 April 1918 in Somme , France. He was awarded the Military Cross "For acts of gallantry in the field. He organised and led a successful raid on the enemy trenches, displaying great courage and determination throughout"

Colin's name is in a Law Society Roll of Honour WW1 and obituary.
James Hally and Elizabeth Hally ( nee Davis - originally from Coromandel  ) lost three sons in WW1.
 

 Family At Home and Abroad

 
 
 
Staff Nurse 22/288  New Zealand General Hospital . Annie Moody married Walter Turner  was the daughter of William Moody and Annie Cleland Moody ( nee Stewart ) On 25 January 1916 Annie Moody embarked from Wellington aboard Hospital Ship No 1 bound  on its second voyage. Moody nursed at Brockenhurst Hospital in Hampshire.
 

James Buchanan Macfarlane & Edith Mary Macfarlane ( nee Durrieu)

With two  sons and a number of nephews enlisted in the forces, these two threw themselves into Community work  Red Cross, St. Johns and the Victoria League. They fundraised for hospital ships, soldiers Red Cross parcels and other aid.

They were amongst the many who were at home minding the farms, making  Red Cross parcels, making and rolling bandages, knitting socks and hats, nursing those who retuned home and fund raising.

Reference Source:

             University of Auckland
             Law Society of New Zealand 


         Thanks also to National Army Museum for link to Photo Album of Phillip Roderick McRae  
          Hanna
 
 
 
 
 

 



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Sunday 5 April 2015

Commercial Fishing on the Eastern Coasts of Coromandel

Hauling the nets early 1980's - slide photo JM Stewart collection

Captain James Cook back in 1869 aboard HMS Endeavour is said to have named the stretch of Coast Bay of Plenty ( Maori Name  Te Moana a Toi) This was as he headed across the Bay and up the coast of  what Is now known as the Coromandel Peninsula,  he noted abundant food supplies in the villages. On 1st November 1869 Cook recorded : - 

"At 8 saw between 40 and 50 Canoes in shore. Several of them came off to the Ship, and being about us some time they ventur’d alongside and sold us some Lobsters, Muscels, and 2 Conger Eales." ( Wharton Ed, 1893 )
 
Captain Cook on arrival at what he later named Mercury Bay ( Maori name Whitianga-o-Kupe) , set about fishing and found that Maori were adept fishers and traders at this place. Cook recorded on the 6th November:-
 
 "The Natives brought to the Ship, and sold to our People, small Cockles, Clams, and Mussels, enough for all hands."  ( Wharton Ed,1893 )

Cook was to record  the attempts by the marines to trawl with the long boat, to haul the Sean and  copious supplies of fish and shellfish seen at Mercury Bay. This was not new knowledge for Maori had long found the Bay of Plenty and Coromandel Coasts plentiful with fish and shellfish. Archaeological diggings in the last forty decades on Middens scattered along the coastline have confirmed this.
 
Coastline early 1980's JM Stewart slide photo collection

Fishing through the years of European Settlement years on the Eastern Seaboard Coast of the Coromandel  continued to add to the staple diet of gum diggers, timber fellers and gold miners. Strikers during the 1912 Strike at Waihi supplemented household food supplies by fishing. During the Depression years fishing helped food supplies. In 1929 the Auckland Star reporting on the Relief workers being taken to the new Forestry Trial Planting project near Whangamata wrote:-

" There is also a fine ocean beach and the place is a noted fishing centre" ( Auckland Star 04/11/1929)

Commercial Fishing off Whangamata 1970's - JM Stewart photo collection


 Commercial Fishing


Back in 1871 New Zealanders were already discussing commercial fishing. The Nelson Evening Mail reporting on a Colonial Industries Report wrote :-
 
" With regard to the establishment of coast fisheries, the committee recommend that these should be encouraged by means of a bonus, for a term of seven years, on cured fish, dry and pickled, exported for consumption abroad, and that suitable sites should be reserved for the purposes of fisheries and for curing stations. They made special mention also of the case of Messrs. M'Leod and Perston, of Whangarei, and recommend that they should have the exclusive right of a block of 500 acres, thirteen miles north of Whangarei, so long as they use it as a fishing and drying station. They further recommend that all articles used in coast fisheries should be admitted free of duty, and that all boats and vessels engaged in the fishing trade be relieved from harbor, wharf, pilotage, and light dues." ( Nelson Evening Mail 30/10/1871 p4)
 
No major fish processing plants developed on the Eastern Seaboard of Coromandel. The advent of  roading  on the eastern side of the Coromandel Peninsula,  after long years of lobbying , along with a railway to Waihi connecting with Thames Railway in 1905  and continuing on to Tauranga in 1828, led to regular calls by steamers fading away. By the late 1920’s  there was a small community of fishermen living near Whangamata Harbour, forming the nucleus of this small settlement.  
 
From newspaper accounts Seine fishing was a hot topic in May 1937 with line and recreational fishermen attending a meeting of  the Waihi Fishing Association to discuss the detriments of this method of fishing to food stocks. Not many weeks after the Evening Post reported that the Fisheries Investigation Committee ( Messrs. J. Thorn, M.P, (chairman), M. Y. Young, assistant chief inspector of fisheries, and E. Seed, of the Department of Industries and Commerce) :-
 
" will be at Thames from June 24 to June 30, but during that period it also intends to investigate the position at Mercury Bay and Whangamata. From Thames the committee will proceed to Auckland. The Wellington sittings will be held last. The North Island investigation is also expected to take three months." ( Evening Post 11/06/1937)
 
Fishing late  1970's - slide photo JM Stewart collection

Seems this was not the first time as back in 1920 fishermen were expressing concerns over trawling to an Inquiry regarding Trawling Limits and Fishing Industry (  Mr L. P. Ayson. Chief Inspector of Fisheries, and Mr A. Petersenson. Chief Inspector of Fisheries)

" Mr Alex Leslie said he had been fishing here nine or ten years ago and followed it up till 1914. He knew the Coast from Town Point to Whangamata as well as anyone. Off Whangamata he had got as many as 60 dozen. The average used to be from 25 to 30 dozen. Since he had been back from the war he had been out a fair number of times trying the old grounds but had no luck at all. He was now living retired and was only using his boat for pleasure. All his big catches used to be between Bowentown and Whangamata. When he was fishing before he noticed that the fish always took off about August. The weather conditions affected the fishing. Since he returned he found a big decrease in the fishing. " ( Bay of Plenty Times 10/08/1920,p3)
 

Dealing with a shark original slide photo  JM Stewart late 1970s

With small fishing boats ( mainly wooden hulled vessels) ,various methods of fishing were carried out over the years but largely inshore net fishing and long lining. A wharf now in Whangamata Harbour by the 1970's provided a focal point for loading, unloading, baiting up and to catch up with news on the latest catch and fishing techniques. Whitianga fish floor was also a destination for catch.  1963 saw commercial fishing boats licensing halted. However requirements on fish sizes and fishing methods continued.  

My own memories are of the MacArthur and Jamieson families in the later 1960's who were living in the then small settlement of Whangamata.  Some of the vessels came out of the early days of the 1900s such as the MV Tawa - well known charter and fishing boat, the top sail cutter Clio, built in 1894 which saw a number of Ports and settlements including Tairua during the early 1940's and Whangamata from late 70's until mid-90's years.
 
Clio when first based at Whangamata - photo JM Stewart late 1970's
 
 An attempt at a  mussel farm in the Whangamata Harbour  in the early 1970’s failed when washed away in a storm. Today in 2015 OPC at Whitianga is the major mussel processing factory on the Coromandel Peninsula and " Coromandel Green- lipped mussels " grown and harvested from Coromandel Harbour are a famous addition to restaurant menus on the Peninsula  ( Recommend Mussel Chowder - yum!)
 
A Quota management system was introduced by 1986 with the Government implementation of the Fisheries Act, helping to regulate boats and catch. Main catches on the Eastern Coast - all to quota were schnapper, terakihi, gurnard and hapuka.
  
Wooden hulled vessels gave way to steel hulled and Whangamata as a base for a number of commercial fishermen gave way  to recreation fishing in the main, with but a few now in 2015 fishing commercially out of Whangamata.
 
Commercial Fishing late 1970's - Photo JM Stewart Collection
 
A scallop processing factory at Whangamata in 2015 provides employment for local residents and a business supplying the mainly domestic market with this shellfish. A what, was called  "black skirt disease", in 1999 threatened the scallop industry for a time and staff and boat layoffs.  Annually a popular Scallop Festival is held at Whitianga for those who enjoy gastronomical delights and good music.
 

Reference Source:


This blog is for my Dad who loved the sea and fishing.
  • "Clio” – Stewart Family papers ( Jack and Helen ), photos, letters from builder’s family and others too, newspaper articles, etc.
  • Williamson, Beverley M, Whangamata – 100 Years of Change, Goldfields Print Ltd, Paeroa, 1988 p 53, 56 fishing settlement at Whangamata
  • Captain Cook's Journal during his first voyage round the world made in H.M. Bark “Endeavour” 1768-71 / with notes and introduction edited by Captain W. J. L. Wharton [1893]
  • New Zealand Legislation accessed 09/06/2009 relates to registration of commercial boats
    Legislation: Acts Ship Registration Act 1992Public Act 1992 No 89 Date of assent 1 October 1992 http://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1992/0089/latest/DLM275027.html search=ts_act_Parole_resel&p=1Z
  • REPORT ON COLONIAL INDUSTRIES. Nelson Evening Mail,, 30 October 1871, Page 4
  • INQUIRY REGARDING TRAWLING LIMITS AID FISHING INDUSTRY IN BAY OF PLENTY Bay of Plenty Times,  10 August 1920, Page 3
  • TE TEKO WRECKED OFF SLIPPER ISLAND. Bay of Plenty Times, 10 August 1920, Page 3
  • WORK AT WHANGAMATA. Auckland Star, 4 November 1929, Page 8
  • FISHERIES INQUIRY Evening Post, 11 June 1937, Page 15
  • SEINE NET FISHING New Zealand Herald, 25 May 1937, Page 5
Interested in finding   out more about Captain Cook. Coromandel Heritage Trust The Treasury at Thames has a great collection - make contact for research assistance.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
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