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flooded with miners. Over 3,000 had claims in the region, working the
alluvial gravel deposits with pans and sluice boxes, but generally the area
was not lucrative. Within six months, the rush was over, but the Kapanga
mine itself was successful, and its stamping battery can be seen drawn
on the Kennedy Bay gold fields map at bottom.
Mine Maps
New Hauraki
Gold Properties Map
The small grid lower left
says Bay View Township
and Rings Road.
(continued from p.13)
Kennedy Bay
and Coromandel
mine maps
Ring’s stamping
battery is shown
lower right
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of the Kapanga region
In 1857, Charles Heaphy surveyed the region and reported that gold was
in the quartz reefs, which meant digging, tunnels, roads, stampers, etc.
All needing major money investors.
(Heaphy’s illustrations are shown on
two previous pages and above.)
All these years, adventurous North Island prospectors played ‘cat and
mouse’, trespassing on land owned by local Maori. It was not until 1867,
after the ‘Maori Wars’, that much of this area was officially opened to
gold mining. This gave the beleagured Auckland area relief from the
unemployed men, as they streamed onto the Coromandel looking to
prospect, work for wages in the mines or other support services like
road building, supplying stores, etc.
An ironic twist to this tale of the mining agreement with the Maori
is that the pre-existing land use agreement for the Rings’ kauri
operation gave them rights to the stream to power their sawmill,
thus preventing other miners from using the creek’s
water. Miners having affected claims then sued the
government. Well, as they say “it’s complicated”.
Frederick’s funeral notice mentions that mining continued
at Kapanga until 1863, when ‘troubles with Maori’ broke
out. Even Coromandel town was deserted. However,
mining operations resumed again in 1865.
The Ring brothers lived primarily in Auckland, where
both were held in high esteem as founding pioneers and because of
their innate decency. Frederick died in 1887, with Charles (shown)
passing in 1906 at age 90.
Travelling the region, you will find Rings Road, Driving Creek and Kapanga
Road (the original name of Driving Creek). Going northeast is Kennedy Bay
Road, named for kauri merchant John Kennedy. (See Road Trip this issue.)
Five miners shovel gravel in the Kapanga Stream, using
a ‘long Tom’ (with water delivered by wooden trough)
and a smaller cradle (water delivered by bucket). This
shows the challenging terrain and dense native bush.
A miner’s simple tent sits atop a bluff.
GOLD