SS Ventnor leaving Westport.1902

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DescriptionSS.Ventnor.. carrying remains of West Coast and Otago Chinese gold diggers.
In 1902 the ship Ventnor set out for China with the bones of 499 Chinese men who had died in New Zealand. The men were being returned home to the care of their families and ancestral villages. Most were old goldminers from the Otago / Greymouth area who had not been able to make enough money for their return passage home.
Under the auspices of a charitable association, the Cheong Sing Tong, community members pooled their money so that the remains of their countrymen could be returned home.
Tragically the men never made it. The Ventnor hit a rock off the Taranaki coast and eventually sank off the Hokianga Heads. This was a great catastrophe for the community, as it was believed the men’s spirits would not be at ease. Far from family and in a watery grave, there would be no-one to tend to their needs in the afterlife.
As soon as it got news of the sinking, the Cheong Sing Tong hired the steamer ‘Energy’ from Auckland to try and locate the wreck and possibly recover as many of the coffins as possible. This was not successful. Later it was rumoured that some of the bones had washed up and were buried by local iwi who lived along the coastline.
The present day
In 2007, while making a short film about the Ventnor, Aucklander Wong Liu Shueng made contact with Te Roroa, the local iwi of the southern Hokianga area. They confirmed that their ancestors had found bones from the wreck and that they had been buried in various locations along the coast. A number of these locations are still known.
With a small group of others from the community, Wong Liu Shueng began to contact those with direct links to the men lost on the Ventnor. In February / March last year a group of those people went up for their first visit to the two iwi Te Roroa and Te Rarawa, and to visit the known burial sites.Date of PhotoBetween 1st January 1902 and 31st December 1902Map^[1]External LinkS S Ventnor

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Organisation (eg business)S S VentnorEventChinese Goldminers

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Date Created2015-02-28

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SS Ventnor leaving Westport.1902

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