Charleston: Its Rise and Decline/Chapter 6
Chapter VI.
NINE-MILE BEACH—THE SHETLANDERS—LITTLE BEACH.
NINE-MILE BEACH.
THIS beach, called the Nine-mile because of about that length, was part of the beach-route, running south from the southern point of Tauranga Bay. It is a narrow beach flanked with white sandhills, with only small headlands to shield it from the prevailing westerly winds, and presented a long line of foaming surf to the passing coaches, while salty spray stung the faces of passengers and left white patches on their hats and clothing. The beach is bisected by the Totara River, a treacherous ford for vehicles, owing to deep scours and quicksands. The ferry at this river is dealt with in another chapter.
It was, and is, an uninteresting beach excepting at its southern end where, from 1870 onward, romance was writ thickly—the romance of gold and beachcombing, and of the Shetlanders who there formed a community of their own. A hardy, industrious, soberminded people were these men and women from Unst in the Shetland group of Islands, inured for generations to the labours and perils of the northern fishing grounds, which fostered a spirit of adventure. Acting upon this impulse, a few turned their thoughts to the new lands of the southern world, from which came rumours of fabulous riches and golden opportunities. It was a strong people, “strong with the strength of the race.”
In March, 1868, Magnus Mouat, aged twenty-four, and Gilbert Harper, with five others—Barclay Mouat, William and Gilbert Anderson, Nicholas Priest and John Johnson—left their native land for Brisbane, and arrived there after a passage of ninety days. The first two, Mouat and Harper, were the leaders of the party, the Chieftains of the Clan, to use appropriate but Scottish terms. Having no luck upon the Queensland goldfields, the party proceeded to Melbourne where it dissolved, five of them—Barclay Mouat, William Anderson, Gilbert Anderson, Nicholas Priest, and John Johnson—remaining there, while Magnus Mouat and Gilbert Harper sailed for Westport, arrived there in 1869, worked for eight months at Bradshaw’s Creek near the Buller, moved to the Nine-mile in January of 1870, and started beachcombing there, the first Shetlanders to arrive.
They were not the first beachcombers on the Nine-mile; two or three were already operating there, but employing most primitive methods, such as were used at Okarito, the birthplace of beachcombing in New Zealand. It is believed that the first men to work this beach were Alexander McRae (whom Mouat bought out), W. Hampton, and John Madden. Captain Henry Jacobsen who, in November, 1866, was appointed Signalman at Westport, has left on record the fact that he was working on the Nine-mile early in that year.
Mouat and Harper, practical-minded men who realised the possibilities of beach-washing by better methods, bought most if not all of the claims, at any rate the best of them. In 1870 they sent for their five countrymen whom they had left in Melbourne, and others in their homeland of Unst, many of whom responded to the call.
Barclay Mouat had by then returned to Unst but, with his wife and three children, arrived at the Nine-mile in 1876. William Anderson and John Johnson were working at Hyde in Central Otago, but upon hearing from the leaders, proceeded to Unst, collected their families, and with them arrived at the beach in 1877. Nicholas Priest did not get further than Nelson, where he died shortly after arrival.
On 12th October, 1875, the ship Caroline left Plymouth for Nelson, arriving there on 14th January, 1876. Among the passengers were James Harper, aged 42, his wife, Margaret Harper, aged 39, and their family of eight— Charlotte, William, Elizabeth, Wilhelmina, Margaret, Jemima, Gilbert and Ann; also John Mouat, aged 20. All of them went from Nelson to Charleston, where a great re-union of Shetlanders was held, of the Mouats, Harpers, Hendersons, Sutherlands, Laurensons and Johnsons.
Mr. William Harper revisited the Shetland Isles in 1887, there married Miss Joanna Sutherland, and returned to the Nine-mile, where they lived until 1916, when they moved to Wellington, where he died on 14th December, 1939, at the age of 80, and was buried at Karori. W. Sutherland was the last of the pioneer Shetlanders to leave the Nine-mile Beach.
In 1871, Dr. Joseph Giles, Warden, reported, “a number of claims have been taken upon the beach between Charleston and Westport”; evidently referring to the Nine-mile, as no other beach was then worked; also that “several races are in course of construction for bringing water to the beach. It is supposed that these claims will pay from twenty to thirty shillings per day. In every case double areas of ground have been given to the beach.”
In 1873 his report stated: “On the beach between Charleston and the Totara a good many claims are occupied. The working of them is rendered possible by the races which have at considerable cost of money and labour been brought down to the beach.”
In 1874 he again refers to the beach claims: “A large number are held near Charleston, but the working of them is uncertain and intermittent. They sometimes become covered with grey sand and then will not pay to work. They are well adapted to men who have something else to employ themselves with in the intervals so created, and to holders of residence areas in the vicinity who are thus able to cultivate a little ground while they cannot work their claims.”
The Nine-mile being on the coach-route, a hotel soon followed settlement at this end of the beach—the Racecourse Hotel and Store, on the site later occupied by William Mouat’s residence. This hotel deserves more than passing reference, being better than the usual wayside public-house. On 4th March, 1868, Frederick Hall, its proprietor, was granted the right “to construct a track from Hall’s Store on the beach near Charleston to Brown’s Terrace, length about two miles, and to charge a toll of 2/6 for each horse or head of cattle, and 6d. for each sheep, using the track.” He also catered for the race-meetings held upon the beach, established the “Vauxhall Gardens,” a tastefully laid-out ground behind the hotel, and erected therein “a monster platform for open-air balls, gatherings of societies, fetes, picnic parties and other entertainments.” Despite the toll at the Nile bridge, the grounds and gardens were well patronised by parties from Charleston.
To a small extent, some beachcombing was carried out at White Horse Beach, south of Charleston, by Foley and McIntosh; also a small amount at Red Jack’s Beach. Both these beaches were between the Four-mile and Brighton. It was in November of 1865 at Okarito that discovery was first made of the fact that the beach sands of the Coast were auriferous. Here, by the crudest of methods, the carrying of sand to the water, or water to the sand, the returns were amazing; one party of four secured £2,200 worth of gold in six weeks.
In 1874, Magnus Mouat revisited Leith in Scotland, where he found that his old mate, Gilbert Anderson, had returned from wandering, and had settled down in business. In Leith, Magnus Mouat married Cecilia Johnson, in February of 1875. He returned to the Nine-mile in 1876, and to his delight found it a hive of mining industry, and his people a self-contained and respected community. In 1876 there were in all five Mouat brothers at the beach—Magnus, Barclay, James, Andrew and John.
The Hon. F. E. O’Flynn, writing in 1938 concerning the Nine-mile Beach, said that he could hardly think of this beach without thinking of its outstanding human character, Magnus Mouat, who was the real chief, and than whom “Sir Walter Scott never pictured a more pronounced personality.” Later, Magnus Mouat extended his field of operations by purchasing, about 1898, Laurenson’s (previously G. R. Brown’s) “flycatching” tables in Darkie’s Creek and working them. Brown, who had gone to England about 1891, returned to Charleston and re-bought the tables from Mouat for £20; a right that had once been worth hundreds, but then almost worthless owing to the absence of tailings in the creek.
On 31st March, 1877, Warden Broad, in his report, stated: “Noticeably I would mention a large party of Shetlanders which, although some years ago it only numbered six, has now increased to some hundred.” In 1886 the number of Shetlanders at the beach was between seventy and eighty, and nearly all the claims were theirs. In 1906 there were but fifteen.
In January, 1882, two double-area claims on the beach, with water-race and all appliances, were sold for £1,000. The population at the beach was almost stationary for some years. On 1st February, 1900, a post office was opened there and called Rahui. It was closed on 30th April, 1921. The following were in charge of this office, but were not on the permanent staff of the department::—
| Mrs. C. Dennehy | " | 1st January, 1902 |
| Mrs. L. J. Mouat | " | 13th February, 1904 |
| Mr. A. Thurlow | " | 16th October, 1908 |
| Mr. G. H. Mouat | " | 24th July, 1911 |
| Mrs. J. M. T. Powell | " | 31st May, 1918 |
At the end of 1907 the Education Department approved a grant to provide a building for a school at Rahui. It was opened in 1909 and closed in 1916. No list of teachers is available, but two names have been ascertained—Miss Teresa Boyle and Miss Eden. The old building still stands, but now serves the useful but humble purpose of a cowshed.
Although the Shetlanders were not the first to comb the beach, they were the first to do so systematically, discarding the inefficient appliances and substituting the now familiar barrow-tables on wheels, or “beach boxes” as they are termed. These were either “singles” or “three deckers”; namely, one long table, or made in three divisions. The old “rigs,” used before proper boxes were introduced, were merely small plate-tables carried to the work and there placed on trestles. This was too slow and cumbersome a method for Mouat, who soon conceived the idea of fixing the plates on a frame table, about 12 feet long and 3 feet wide, and putting the whole upon wheels.
Many of the innovations introduced emanated from a Bermudian, Cato Dickenson, who had served his apprenticeship in the Naval Dockyards of his country as an artificer; a well-respected man who later was house steward at the hospital.
Magnus Mouat died at Lower Hutt on 18th October, 1934, aged 90 years, and is buried at Karori. His wife died at Lower Hutt in July, 1926, and is buried beside him at Karori. Their family was five sons and one daughter. Gilbert Harper died at Nine-mile Beach in 1882, and is buried at Charleston. He had not married. His age was 38 years.
As the principal source of the gold was the tailings from the workings about Charleston, brought to the sea by the Nile River and cast upon the beach by the tides, the quantity gradually lessened as the mining was reduced, until at last the supply was too small to make the beach-work profitable, so it ceased. To-day no beach-claims are worked regularly, but one or two nearby farmers do occasional combing as a side-line.
In comparatively recent years Powell & Co, worked elevators, or “blow-ups,” on the greater portion of the Nine-mile Beach from the Totara River to Parson’s Hill.
The West Coast has been proverbial for clannishness and the comradeship that regards neither creed nor class; and nowhere was this spirit more in evidence than among the Shetlanders of the Nine-mile. To-day, scattered throughout the Dominion as they and their descendants are, that spirit exists unimpaired, defying the miles, and the passing of many moons; the people of the Shetlands remain one great family.
A portion of beach adjacent to the Totara Lagoon was once, about 1888, the scene of a mild rush, and the locality became known as “Larrikins’.” It was short-lived, and little mining was done, although much labour and capital were expended, the water being brought in from Virgin Flat, about half-way between there and Addison’s Flat. The original “rushers” were L. Levy, Jerry Mullins, Percy and Alf Craddock, George Hurburgh, Alf, Fred, Ben, and Jimmy Parsons.
LITTLE BEACH.
This was sometimes called Nile Beach. It lies immediately north of the mouth of the Nile River and about half-a-mile south of the Nine-mile Beach, from which it is separated by a rise called Parsons’ Hill. The latter name is not derived from any cleric, but from the owner James Parsons, keeper of the Welcome Inn that stood at the extreme north of Little Beach and was, after the closing of Hall’s Hotel, the first stopping-place for southbound coaches after leaving Totara. The first landlord was James Parsons, an ex-pilot of Constant Bay. In 1911 the licensee was Adrian Mitchell, and the last keeper was Mary Hampton, who allowed the license to lapse in 1933. The old landmark still stands, empty and neglected, a dilapidated memorial of times that were. Many tales it could tell of happenings during its long years of life; of the streams of goldseekers that trod the road beside its door, of coaches laden with pioneers, of lumbering wagons, carts, packhorses, riders and swaggers, and gold escorts. Now, tourists go a mile or two out of their way to view its falling timbers and paneless windows, and to speculate upon its history while scanning its inside walls papered with the prints of last century, many of the latter being still readable.
Little Beach was not combed extensively, though claims operated there. Its rights are now held by Hampton Brothers, who work upon it occasionally.
Parsons’ Hill was Section 4 (ten acres) of Square 137 of Nelson Land District and the Welcome Inn was on Section 6.
Little Beach was a portion of the beach-route, but soon a road was formed around its fringe and afforded a better way for vehicles. A strip of land, a few chains across, to the south of this beach, separated it from Small’s Beach, a sandy spit in the Nile basin. Beside the road over this strip (on Section 43) was the cottage of the Nile signalman, Henry Small, who supervised the entrance and departure of the little steamers after the Nile River became the port of Charleston. As related in another chapter, Little Beach was, in Charleston’s earliest days, a landing-place for sea-borne supplies, vessels landing them upon the beach, and Nees’s Tramway conveying them “to the diggings.” The road approach to Little Beach from the north was around a sharp bend with, at its edge, a dangerous bank having a steep drop to the flat behind the Welcome Inn. Here occurred an accident. The Westport Times of July, 1869, reported: “On Saturday last, the coach running between Charleston and Westport capsized down a precipice. The horses (4) were all killed and a number of passengers injured.” And later: “Accident to Cobb & Co.’s coach. It appears that the horses got off the road into a steep gully about a-quarter of a mile beyond Charleston Racecourse Hotel. The driver, Kiely, had a narrow escape. The passengers walked to their destination. The coach and horses were got up again, the latter uninjured. The evening was dark and boisterous.” The second account differs considerably from the first!
The census of 1872 showed the population of Little Beach as 43 persons.
| 1/8/1878— | Michael Noonan, 1 acre. |
| 1/8/1878— | William H. Rosenberg, 1 acre. |
| 23/5/1878— | John Sullivan, 1 acre. |
| 6/3/1879— | George R. Brown, 1 acre. |
| 7/3/1879— | Edward Drennan, 1 acre. |
| 26/2/1880— | Edward Brougham, 1 acre. |
SOME RESIDENTS OF NINE-MILE BEACH.
- Magnus Mouat
- James Mouat
- John Mouat
- B. Mouat
- G. Harper
- J. Harper
- W. Harper
- M. Laurenson
- Jas. Johnson
- M. Johnson
- J. Johnson
- G. Anderson
- J. Anderson
- W. Sutherland
- J. McHerron
- G. Brown
- A. Leggatt
- C. Brougham
- R. Rosenberg
- W. H. Rosenberg
- J. Sherlock
- J. Sullivan
- D. Sullivan
- P. Callaghan
- W. Hampton
- Cato Dickenson
- John Warne
- D. Dennehy
- W. Bird
- —. Noonan
- Frank Herring
- J. Harris
- J. Harold
- Edward Bowen
- Edward Baulke
- Albert Trumper
- A. Thurlow
- J. M. T. Powell