New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

The forum has moved to community.paydirt.co.nz, see you there!

This forum is now an archive to preserve the knowledge and finds posted here.

A picture I found on the net

Rob2180		Posted : Friday, 11 November 2011 3:37:38 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Flake Groups: Registered Joined: 7/07/2011(UTC) Posts: 16 Location: Dannevirke, Hawke's Bay Thanks: 23 times Was thanked: 12 time(s) in 11 post(s)		mining was dangerous back in the old days Rob2180 attached the following image(s):
		WWW

kiwisouth		Posted : Friday, 11 November 2011 3:44:15 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 3/04/2010(UTC) Posts: 326 Location: Blenheim (Renwick) Thanks: 39 times Was thanked: 105 time(s) in 83 post(s)		One way to get rid of your business partners I suppose? "I'm just going up top for a smoke chaps"
		Nulli Illigitimi Carborundum
		WWW

Lammerlaw		Posted : Friday, 11 November 2011 3:46:47 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 24/05/2011(UTC) Posts: 1,721 Thanks: 72 times Was thanked: 579 time(s) in 396 post(s)		Its a real cracker - a great photo - it also shows you the effort that some guys went to in their search for gold...and the risks they took. A fellow was killed on my place back in the gold rush era due to a fall of dirt or slip and to my way of thinking the chaps in the photo are taking a considerable risk propping up that boulder with a few pieces of timber. If the ground immediately behind the sluice box washed and and the boulder slumped it might have dislodged the timber and for one or more of those fellows it might have been 'goodnight nurse' as they used to say. A fantastic photo - do you know where it was taken?

Rob2180		Posted : Friday, 11 November 2011 3:50:00 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Flake Groups: Registered Joined: 7/07/2011(UTC) Posts: 16 Location: Dannevirke, Hawke's Bay Thanks: 23 times Was thanked: 12 time(s) in 11 post(s)		At the Golden Hope Settlement near Murchison
		WWW

madsonicboating		Posted : Friday, 11 November 2011 4:11:03 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 21/03/2011(UTC) Posts: 674 Thanks: 187 times Was thanked: 157 time(s) in 127 post(s)		hahaa woah!!!
		WWW

kiwijw		Posted : Friday, 11 November 2011 10:19:07 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 28/03/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,152 Thanks: 92 times Was thanked: 658 time(s) in 324 post(s)		Yes it is a beaut. I saw this a few years ago & the write up I saw said it was during the depression years & was in the Howard area. The chaps doing the mining were part of the government subsidized mining program & the chap holding the gold pan was the government agent doing the rounds & checking up on how things were "panning" out for them. JW :)

gavin		Posted : Saturday, 12 November 2011 11:10:16 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Administrators, Registered Joined: 20/02/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,326 Location: Christchurch Thanks: 736 times Was thanked: 535 time(s) in 287 post(s)		That guy's got his shirt off... were there no sandflies back in those days?! I've just come back from a week in the bush and covered in bites! (will post some photos later of the gold)
		WWW

kiwisouth		Posted : Saturday, 12 November 2011 11:25:39 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 3/04/2010(UTC) Posts: 326 Location: Blenheim (Renwick) Thanks: 39 times Was thanked: 105 time(s) in 83 post(s)		The more I look at that photo, the more I take my hat off to the old timers. What a way to earn a shilling. My brother was a indergroung coal miner in Huntly for years but now gets to look after the control room. He got sick of great lumps of coal falling down on him. Just don't get him started on the Pike River disaster. He was Mines rescue as well. Feel for the guys who are being done, makes you wonder if the DOL and government should be taken to account as well, doing away with Mines Inspectors
		Nulli Illigitimi Carborundum
		WWW

oroplata		Posted : Saturday, 12 November 2011 11:36:41 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered, Moderators Joined: 16/06/2011(UTC) Posts: 1,040 Location: Christchurch Thanks: 23 times Was thanked: 211 time(s) in 152 post(s)		Originally Posted by: gavin That guy's got his shirt off... were there no sandflies back in those days?! I've just come back from a week in the bush and covered in bites! (will post some photos later of the gold) Are we rich yet? But anyway, he's probably coated himself in something the sandflies don't like but is a banned substance now.
		WWW

Lammerlaw		Posted : Saturday, 12 November 2011 11:41:36 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 24/05/2011(UTC) Posts: 1,721 Thanks: 72 times Was thanked: 579 time(s) in 396 post(s)		Originally Posted by: kiwijw Yes it is a beaut. I saw this a few years ago & the write up I saw said it was during the depression years & was in the Howard area. The chaps doing the mining were part of the government subsidized mining program & the chap holding the gold pan was the government agent doing the rounds & checking up on how things were "panning" out for them. JW :) Hi John - Are you sure the guy with the pan was a Government inspector? - the reason I say this is because they usually had an air of authority about them and despite the hardships of the day usually dressed in accordance with their post so would usually be a bit tidier that this chap. Another reason is the often a party of gold seekers would have an older guy with them and he was the 'brains' behind the operation and the younger fellows were the brawn. It stands to reason that the older guy might be a member of the party about to take a test dish and watching the younger fellows to the spade work.

Shilo		Posted : Saturday, 12 November 2011 12:27:23 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 29/01/2011(UTC) Posts: 573 Location: Kawhia Thanks: 17 times Was thanked: 285 time(s) in 185 post(s)		What no OSH in those days???? :) Here's the link to the pic's web page Lammerlaw: http://www.teara.govt.nz...gold-and-gold-mining/1/2 I agree the old guy is the one with the brains - he is standing well out of the way! Edited by user Saturday, 12 November 2011 12:27:57 PM(UTC) \| Reason: Not specified
		BLOG

oroplata		Posted : Saturday, 12 November 2011 12:36:09 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered, Moderators Joined: 16/06/2011(UTC) Posts: 1,040 Location: Christchurch Thanks: 23 times Was thanked: 211 time(s) in 152 post(s)		"In the early 1930s the New Zealand government introduced a scheme to subsidise unemployed men who worked at goldfields supervised by government workers. " My grandfather, great uncle, etc etc, were employed by a similar scheme, building the runway at Greymouth Airport with shovels and wheelbarrows - since the coal mine closed down.
		WWW

Lammerlaw		Posted : Saturday, 12 November 2011 12:45:32 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 24/05/2011(UTC) Posts: 1,721 Thanks: 72 times Was thanked: 579 time(s) in 396 post(s)		Originally Posted by: Shilo What no OSH in those days???? :) Here's the link to the pic's web page Lammerlaw: http://www.teara.govt.nz...gold-and-gold-mining/1/2 I agree the old guy is the one with the brains - he is standing well out of the way! Thanks for that - much appreciated - I guess I was wrong in the guess about the guy being part of the party of miners but your right - he is the one with the brains! In saying that last year I was crawling under a rock just as large and propped up and held in place by one schist slab less than a yard across - my son had found a quarter ounce nugget beside it and around it 18grammes of gold and the cracks ran under the rock so I just had to have a look! Maybe that particular inspector was just 'one of the boys' and not like many of the government workers who dressed in white shirts and ties and were mini Gestapo, ready, willing and able to lay down the letter of the law. As for OSH - In those there was also no PC brigade and people had a site more freedom than they do now - today we are more or less manacled with the invisible shackles of ridiculous laws and regulations which inhibit the movement and actions of good honest New Zealanders while their country is getting sold down the drain by the corruption and criminal behaviour of those we vote to power and who serve not us but their off shore banking masters! in other words you cannot take a bucket of gravel from the top of an old tailings heap while the off shore mining syndicates can ravage the country and steal the gold which belongs to you and me and the rest of the population. Imagine what would happen it todays minng inspector came across you if you had a set up like this! Edited by user Saturday, 12 November 2011 1:18:50 PM(UTC) \| Reason: Not specified

kiwijw		Posted : Saturday, 12 November 2011 11:37:05 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 28/03/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,152 Thanks: 92 times Was thanked: 658 time(s) in 324 post(s)		Hi Graeme, My memory wasnt too bad. Gosh ....that does supprise me LOL :) I stand corrected about it being the Howard. Thanks Shilo, saved me looking for it to verify. I wonder how much gold is under that big sucker rock & if they let it fall down so they could work that bit of ground once they had cleaned up where they are working in the photo. I went for a play up in a Coro creek today. Was going to stay in there the night & do some more on sunday but it started to rain so I came on home. Got a little colour for my effort. Will post some pics later. Did some detecting as well but just got the usual iron rubbish & an old brass button that looks like it is off someones old jeans or mole skins. Happy hunting JW :)