Finding gold is child's play

The once-lucrative gold-mining town of Ross on the West Coast is like a living museum, as travel editor STEVE HART finds.

There's something eerie about an old gold-mining town. As you roll in and take your first look around, you can almost sense the past euphoria of finding gold, coupled with the lost dreams that often go hand in hand in places such as these.

The stories of gold-mining fortunes, and misfortunes, are common to any goldrush town you choose to look at. Almost overnight, areas that were home to a few hundred people blossomed into towns that became home for thousands of hopeful miners and their families.

Miners, or perhaps more accurately, diggers, must have thought each day of striking gold, knowing that great wealth could be literally inches away at any moment.

I wonder what stories the small town of Ross could tell if it could speak. The main drag of this South Island community on the West Coast, 30km south of Hokitika, is filled with old-town atmosphere and the buildings still stand, helping the town to become almost a living museum with little hint that tourism is a key earner.

Walk along its main street and you can't help but be taken back to those heady days of the late 1800s, the days of the original get-rich-quick scheme. It is where men with strong backs, iron wills and a few tools would dig for all their worth, hoping to find a nugget or two that would lead to a lucky strike. Some of them did get rich quick.

It was the winter of 1865 when prospectors John Donelly, James Liddle, Michael Donoghue and John Redman stumbled across gold along Jones' River. The goldrush proper started that August when only a handful of people lived in the area between the glaciers and the Totara Valley.

Within weeks more than 2000 people had made their way to a place that was, for two weeks, called Georgetown. But residents didn't like it, so called it Ross. News of gold spread fast and the population soon topped 4000.

With a little imagination you can visualise Aylmer St with people on horseback trotting into town, miners swapping stories, goods and perhaps the odd punch in a mid-street brawl.

Did they brawl in the streets of Ross, perhaps over claims to a goldfield, a missing nugget or a crooked card game? The people who know for sure can be found a 15-minute walk away from the historic Empire Hotel, but they're not saying.

For a real sense of a small town's past, there's no better place than its cemetery, and it's no different in Ross where many headstones tell a tale.

In 1868 Burdett Laycock bought £50 of gold and then made the mistake of trekking along the Totara River to deliver supplies. He was later found with a bruise on his head and the gold missing.

"Could have been murdered," said the coroner, according to the inquest report.

Then there's Patrick McCullogh from Ireland. He died aged 40 in 1875 after being trapped beneath tonnes of clay, leaving a widow and children "unprovided for". A handful of graves at Ross' cemetery, on the side of a hill, are kept tidy - clearly marked by fresh flowers.

I leave hoping that someone has made an effort to save the memory of these people before it's too late. Someone has, I discover. Phillip Ross May captured the town's history in his book Gold Town and, while sadly out of print, the staff at the visitor centre have lots of information and old photos to share and show interested visitors.

Today, long after the goldrush ended, the town looks to tourists and the southern hemisphere's largest alluvial goldmine to survive. It has been a long time since 1872 when the heady days of the rush ended - leaving a couple of companies to mop up the remainder of the gold using heavy machinery.

But even the remaining mine's days are numbered - it is set to close in six months' time, 15 years after starting operations.

But plans have begun to transform the open-cast mine into a lake, with leisure facilities and attractions for visitors around its perimeter.

The year 1909 is still spoken of for the questionable "discovery" of a nugget in Jones' Creek. John Scott and Arthur Sharp unearthed the 99oz lump which is thought to be the largest nugget found in New Zealand.

It was named the "Honourable Roddy Nugget" after Roderick McKenzie, the then Government Minister of Mines, but the shine has been taken off the find, as some believe the nugget was smuggled out of Australia.

A replica of the nugget can be found at a miner's cottage that is now a museum, a two-up two-down house full of tools, period ornaments, furniture and newspaper cuttings charting the town's history.

The cottage was built around 1883 and has an atmosphere all its own, especially upstairs where it has been claimed some people have seen a ghostly figure of a woman in period dress.

By 1917 the rush was well and truly over. There were just nine miners in Ross and a year later statistics recorded a zero gold return there.

There is plenty to remind the visitor of bygone days in Ross. The jail is worth a visit, as are many of the small art and craft shops, many selling original works produced by locals.

Panning for gold is a popular way to spend an afternoon, or you could stick at it for a week or two, like one couple did. They collected enough gold to make their wedding rings.

Yes, when you pan for gold in Ross you have a better-than-even chance of finding some.

The town is surrounded by rainforest and beaches, perfect for a quiet stroll or a breathtaking walk along the coast, and it's worth visiting the old Bank of New South Wales building, which has audio-visual displays with plenty of information about Ross, its people and history.

I wonder what Patrick McCullogh or Burdett Laycock would say if they were to walk the streets of Ross today. I imagine they'd be pleased. It probably hasn't changed that much. It's a good town with friendly people and well worth a visit if you're in that neck of the woods.

CASE NOTES

Getting there

You'll find Ross on SH6 between the glaciers and Hokitika on the West Coast of the South Island.

What's there

Ross has a general store, a garage, a cafe, two hotels, plenty of places to stay, arts and craft shops, and a waste point for people travelling in motorhomes.

Visitor information

Ross Goldfields Information & Heritage Centre. Ph (03) 7554077 or 025 6202884.

Things to do

Historic Goldfields Walks: The easy Water Race Walk (one hour) meanders up past the Ross Cemetery, with headstones telling of many accidents in mine and river, to pass through old workings.

The path passes a reconstructed old miner's hut and dams used to supply the network of water races in the area. Miles of piping, channelling and fluming led water to the sluice claims.

Today, apart from a few sections, their remains are hidden beneath the bush through which the walk passes. Start near the visitor centre in St James St. A leaflet is available.

The Jones Flat Walk (1 1/2 hours), a loop track, follows the old gold workings on the north bank of Jones Creek through regenerating native bush and past the spot where New Zealand's most famous nugget, the Honourable Roddy, was found. Start by the visitor centre, Mount Greenland Rd. The walk is steep in places.

St Patrick's Catholic Cathedral (1866; extended 1869): The building has a floor of baltic pine, said to have been bought by Irish miners when an importer proved unable to pay for the shipment. There is also a fine totara altar. Outside stands a venerable maple, a jewel in autumn.

Where to pan for gold in NZ:

Ross Goldfields

Thames in the Coromandel, where gold mine tours are available

Alexandra in Central Otago (1 1/2 hours drive southeast of Queenstown)

Arrowtown, also near Queenstown

Shantytown (near Greymouth) - a replica of an 1860s West Coast gold-mining town

Whites Peninsular, at the Buller Gorge Swingbridge, 14km west of Murchison on SH6.


Maui Rentals

* Steve Hart visited Ross courtesy of Maui Motorhomes.