Mobile Unit. Alexandra memories

Rights Information
Year
1948
Reference
5863
Media type
Audio
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Rights Information
Year
1948
Reference
5863
Media type
Audio
Series
Mobile Unit - NZ oral history, 1946-1948
Categories
Interviews (Sound recordings)
Oral histories
Sound recordings
Duration
00:29:46
Credits
RNZ Collection
Rivers, George (b.1868), Speaker/Kaikōrero
New Zealand Broadcasting Service. Mobile Recording Unit, Broadcaster

George Rivers, aged 90, describes his memories of Alexandra in the 1870s.

The interview begins with George Rivers giving his birthdate as April 1868. He then describes the flood of 1878, which he says occurred in early Winter after a number of heavy snowfalls, then frosts, and heavy rain. The flood is commemorated with a plate placed in front of the store where the waters rose up to. He then mentions the river punt run by Chersey and Dooley, before going on to talk about the early township of Alexandra during gold rush of the early 1860s. He lists the locations of public buildings such as the post office, churches, and the bank (Bank of New Zealand). The bank did a lot of business with gold, but didn’t hold it on site.

He then speaks about the school building and recalls the first Schoolmaster, George Reid. He also recalls there being many blacksmith’s shops, the first blacksmith being a man named Sharnock.

The water for the town was brought in from Chatter Creek, primarily for mining, so it wasn’t good drinking water. People preferred drinking water from the Molyneux. He then speaks about goods being brought in from Lawrence, and timber from Tapanui, on bullock drays with fourteen bullocks to a team.

Rivers doesn’t personally recall the earliest gold mining days, but gives some information about it from a book written by Vincent Pyke, the first Warden and Commissioner of the area. He says the generally accepted view, that the first gold strike was made by Hartley and Reilly, is incorrect. Rather, it was a man named Sibbald.

He then speaks about his interest in horse racing as a young man. His father always had two or three horses. One named ‘Risartas’ won the Cromwell Derby. Racing was popular in Alexandra, which had three racecourses. Out of the nine years the Cromwell Derby ran, George Rivers rode five of the winners. It was only for horses bred in three local counties, and the distance of the race was a mile and a half. One of his winning horses was called ‘The Wizard’. Rivers also won a trotting record with him at Naseby in 1895.

There is further discussion on the township of Alexandra. Rivers says there was initially a large population in the thousands, which dwindled in the 1890s until there wouldn’t have been more than around three hundred Europeans there, and around a hundred Chinese. He says the Chinese would fossick for gold, they were very hard-working, and were fine and trustworthy people. They lived according to what they earned, and some lived to be very old.

He says there was a Chinese man named Fon Jung[?], who had a large store and boarding house. There is a tale of a practical joke, where a couple of men took a sheep carcass and dressed it up to look like the corpse of a Chinese person. It was put in the river, and was later fished out by the police and an inquest was held.

There were several coal pits in the area, the first was owned by a man named Macdonald, who later became Mayor [George Nicholas Macdonald, Mayor of Alexandra 1882-1886]. There was also a brewery in the town in the 1860s, which later became a canning works, and then a camping ground. He then talks about early sheep runs, one owned by a man named Galloway, which was managed by a Mr Lowe. Watson Shannon had another near Palmerston, and there was also the Earnslaw Station.

Rivers recalls the weather of the 1870s being more severe than now [1948], with colder Winters and hotter Summers. There were long spells of frost and drought. He says the change of season was always on the 17th of March, and now it comes much earlier. In times of heavy snowfall, the lack of firewood did not help the goldminers.

He recalls seeing the gold coach leave with its escort of troopers, carrying their carbines. He also says he has travelled the 130 miles from Alexandra to Dunedin in a day, riding on a horse. A Mr Finlay used to walk the route – he was a great walker, who would also walk to Lawrence even if the coach was running.