Career geologist knocks off definitive goldfield history

Gerard Hindmarsh is a published author living in Golden Bay.

Column: I’m willing to bet no one knows as much about Nelson’s goldfields as Dr Mike Johnston.

At 81, he’s still at it, this time documenting the history of the Golden Bay Goldfields up to 1863.

Published in Nelson by Derek Shaw’s Nikau Press, Aorere Gold sells for $100 and is worth every cent, the 1.8 kg tome coming in at just under 500 pages and illustrated with hundreds of pictures, maps and diagrams. It’s a book that, for its definitive subject, will likely never be surpassed.

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After his ground zero book launch at the historic and colourful Bainham Store, Mike told me he’d been collecting stories for this book for some 25 years.

“It’s been a substantial work in progress that entailed scrambling around every possible mining site.”

And it’s not going to be the end of it either, this book is just the first volume in a planned three-book series about the western goldfields of Nelson Province.

I like the way, from this book, how you get a sense of the spirit of the day, gold fever and all that went with it. One of my favourite anecdotes about the Collingwood Goldfields concerns the Golden Gully tragedy of 1861, which Johnston devotes a substantial part of a chapter to.

An enquiry on the goldfields was convened when the hotel of a miner burnt down in a fierce blaze one night, his body incinerated in it. His de facto wife said she had left late that night after a quarrel with her partner and well before the fire in the early hours of the following morning.

“Wasn’t he known to have a substantial amount of gold on him?” asked the inquest judge.

An old digger came forward. “No, your honour. I panned his ashes as soon as they went cold and there wasn’t a darn colour in ‘em.”

The mystery was never solved, it being hotly debated on the goldfields for years as to whether the publican had set fire to his hotel and then committed suicide or had been murdered. The fact that his partner not long after the tragedy married the hotel’s barman only increased the speculation.

Even before the discovery of gold in the Aorere in 1856, a number of minerals had been found in Nelson Province. Coal was known in Golden Bay and copper and chromite occurred in the Nelson “mineral belt”. This led to the perception that Nelson was mineral-rich and many felt the province’s future was in mining.

This tended to be confirmed when the Aorere spawned New Zealand’s first substantial gold rush. With up to 1,500 miners hoping to make their fortunes, the rush paved the way for the legislation that ensured that subsequent rushes to Otago and the West Coast took place in an orderly and largely peaceful manner.

The Aorere was also a first in that Golden Bay Māori were quickly accepted into the ranks of the miners and became very proficient at finding gold. It was a skill that they introduced to iwi of the West Coast.

Aorere Gold hastened the development of Golden Bay helping to pay for roads, schools and libraries.

Although the rush subsided after little more than a year a small population of miners continued to obtain gold in Golden Bay. In doing so they have left a rich heritage of historical sites that deserve to be preserved and promoted for future generations.

Another aspect of the goldfields was the discovery by miners of moa bones in caves near the diggings. A thorough investigation of the caves in 1859 by the German geologist Ferdinand Hochstetter (assisted by Julius Haast) resulted in the first complete skeletons of this fascinating bird being unearthed. Hochstetter at the time was undertaking for the provincial government an appraisal of Nelson’s mineral wealth.

Mike Johnston, ONZM, grew up in Nelson where he lives with his archivist wife, Alison. After his secondary education at Nelson College, he studied at Victoria University in Wellington and graduated with a PhD in 1972 after starting his long career with the NZ Geological Survey (now GNS Science). Nearly all of his working life has been dedicated to documenting the geology of the Top of the South.

Alongside his impressive list of scientific publications, Mike has shown in his books, articles and public lectures not only a comprehensive understanding of regional history, but how our geological resources influenced both Māori and European settlements.

His previous books include High Hopes (Nikau Press 1987) about the Nelson Mineral belt. Gold in a Tin Dish followed in two substantial hardcopy volumes over 1992/93, the first a history of the Wakamarina Goldfield and the second a history of the Eastern Marlborough Goldfields. All definitive books on their subjects, just like this latest one is.

Johnston has also found time along the way for public involvement. He’s a life member and past president of the Nelson Historical Society, former chair of the Nelson Conservation Board, and past president of the Geological Society of NZ.

On the side he was also one of the inaugural trustees of the Tasman Bays Heritage Trust, which led to him becoming a Life Associate of the Nelson Provincial Museum. After his retirement from GNS, Mike continued to work on histories with geological and mining themes.

For me, the big thing about Mike’s books that sets him apart is how his super in-depth scientific knowledge and talent for historical research are complimented so superbly by his considerable cartographic and photographic skills. Together they all combine to bring the whole narrative alive.

Lots of bits and pieces have been written about the Golden Bay goldfields, but this is the first over-riding account of such a definitive period in our history, a time when a man (or woman), no matter what their standing in life, could go out and get rich, if they were lucky that is.

Well done Mike for making such a substantial contribution to our regional history.