New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

In the Gympie goldfield of Queensland during the 1860s. Thousands of hopeful Chinese diggers did quite well and it was discovered that groups of Chinese were using a novel way of saving money. It was custom in those days for Chinese to work and live together in family groups and if a member died in the hash out backs. The body was immediately buried with a simple funeral ceremony. So far no hint of mischief !
When they had enough gold and it was time to go home, they exhumed the bodies, boiled and scraped clean the bones and packed them in bran and Gin ready to be shipped home for a full traditional ceremony. When it came to load the bones on to the ship, the crew were very hesitant as sailors are very supertitious. But eventually the master reluctanly agreed. The manifest stated "So many cases supposed to contain the bones of Chainamen". Serval more shipments went out over the years and no one thought anything of it.
Many years later it was found out that the Chinese diggers were filling the hollow bones with gold and gold dust. Tens of thousands of pounds were shipped home avoiding the large export duty. You could say the diggers laughed all the way to the bank !

hay gavin i read that aswell somewhere but cant remember where i read it,the boat sunk somewhere down south and they never found it if i remember correctly

There was a steel ship leave West Port and it hit a sand bank as it left port. The ships captain thought the damage was small and decided not to pull into Nelson or Wellington. When they got up north the leck got worse and the ship got washed ashore. Yes Local iwi did find all these little bone pacels. As no one in goverment wanted to know about it. Goverment really didn't like the Chinese. The locals did . As the iwi have respect for the dead and felt sorry for the chinese ,they buried them with a ceremony. If any of the iwi catch anyone digging around their cemetery with a metal detector. They won't be calling the Police about it. You have been warned !