Coromandel Life Magaizine 2017 Winter

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Thames commemorates 150 years since the proclamation of the Thames Goldfields
with a bonanza of events recapturing the momentous lure of gold in these hills.
12th August, 1867 marks the first major gold strike on the Coromandel by George
Clarkson, who then – with partners Hunt, White, and Cobley – claimed a huge vertical
vein of gold on a waterfall face named the Shotover Mine. Within three weeks two-thirds
of Auckland left the city which was in the grips of the depression. Gold rush fever spread
throughout the country and news reached overseas. People poured into the Coromandel
to try their luck, which led to the formation of Grahamstown to the north, and Shortland
in the south, eventually merged as Thames.
The Thames Goldfield ignited large scale industry with firms like A&G Price installing
huge stampers for crushing ore, and Charles Judd Ltd Engineers catering to the
inventiveness and adaptability of early settlers. Read Bros are celebrating 150 years as a
fifth generation family owned hardware store (see p37).
THAMES
GOLDFIELDS
150 th
12 months of commemorations from
1 August 2017 to 31July 2018
Milly’s on Main 07 864 7464
236 Main Road, Tairua
KAYLA 07 868 9063
522 Pollen Street, Thames
See our website and facebook for more new arrivals
32 COROMANDEL LIFE 2017 LATE AUTUMN / WINTER
...continued on page 34.
“George Clarkson, starting out from
Papakura, walked to Auckland where he
boarded a small boat ‘ The Enterprise’.
The run to Thames took 17 hours. He
went ashore in a pulling boat, and looked
around for somewhere to stay. At that
time there were no houses, only whares.
“A large whare partitioned into two was
occupied, one half by James Mackay,
the mining registrar, and the other half by
Hunt and White. George Clarkson was
invited to share their half of the whare.
“He set out prospecting but with no
results, and finally took his things to the
boat with the intention of returning to
Auckland. On the shore he met someone
who advised him to try again, as there
would later be some more Maori land
After successful negotiations over the land with local Maori, Civil Commissioner James
Mackay declared the Thames Goldfield open in 1867. Maori chief Hauauru Taipari had
provided the required proof of viable gold ore and claimed a sizeable reward for his
effort. Once the declaration was made prospectors flooded in by the thousands.
George Clarkson was a ‘hopeful’ that actually ‘struck it rich’ with the discovery of the
Shotover Mine. He told the story to his son, D avid Henry Clarkson and the personal
historic narrative can be read in its entirety on The Treasury website.* The following is a
synopsis with excerpts from THE TREASURY JOURNAL, Volume 1 (2008).
opened for prospecting, he took the
advice.
“Next morning he walked along the beach
until he came to the Kuranui Creek.
Taking a pan of dirt from the creek, he
washed it and found good prospects of
gold. Returning to the whare, he asked
Hunt how he was getting on. He replied
that ‘so far he had had no luck’.”
Clarkson then invited both Hunt
and White to the creek, where they
prospected up the valley. “Early next
morning they went up the creek through
thick undergrowth until they came to
a little waterfall about 20ft high. Hunt
and White went up the right hand side
of the fall, and Clarkson the left hand
THE SHOTOVER MINE IN 1868