Humphrey's Gully Gold Mine, Blue Spur Range

About this image

DescriptionA family mystery solved.
This photo of the miners at Blue Spur Gold mine, Humphreys Gully near Hokitika has been in our family for 135 years.

The man in the middle is William Mills (white shirt) he married my great grandmother Elise Ottilie Wilhelmina (nee Dreckman) born Ross NZ 1868c Her parents were from Germany. She already had my grandmother Elfriede Wilhelmina Dreckman born 1894 when she married Mills in 1896. (We have now proven through DNA on Ancestry that William Mills is Elfriede's father.)

The man on the middle left is Thomas Martyn the young man to his far left is Wallace Martyn his son.
I would be very interested to find out the names of the other men in the photo .

Janet Tillman
The man on the right of William Mills is Claus Geibel.
Looks like we have the wrong label on the picture. It should be "Humphrey's Gully Gold Mine, Blue Spur Range". Also under "person" shown in this picture it should read William Mills and you could add Claus Giebel. Thanks for all your help in setting the record straight. Janet
They drove a tunnel about ninety feet into the left hand terrace of the right hand branch of Humphrey's, and they there obtained prospects sufficient to warrant them in reporting it to the Association, to whom they forwarded some seven or eight prospects taken from various dishes of washdirt. Before reaching their claim, we made a stoppage at Noble's hut, where we ascertained the names of the parties who were at work in the gully. Joe Adams, we were informed, was working on the point, Claus Geibel and William Powell were further on, and all three had been located thereabout for years past. Frank Lowry's hut is close to Noble's, and beyond these come Carter. George Powell and John Brosnan, to all of whom we spoke. The whole of those mentioned had been working in or near the gully, before the prospectors, — if they may be so termed in respect to that immediate locality, — had set in. Noble and party are reported to be on good ground but have not opened up yet.Map^[1]External LinkHumphrey`s Gully Diggings - Papers PastContributorJanet Tillman

Shown in this image

Location (city or town) Humphreys Gully PersonThomas MartynWallace MartynClaus GiebelWilliam MillsOrganisation (eg business)Blue Spur Gold mineEventGoldminers

Category Information

Category TagGoldmining

From Facebook

Date Created27th April 2020CommentsGlenn Johnston Blue Spur and Humphreys Gully are actually different places. I think the caption, no doubt done long after the photo was taken should read; "Humphrey's Gully Gold Mine, Blue Spur Range". The Mill's name was a well known Arahura valley name and Humphreys Gully is on the Arahura side of the Range. Technically Humphreys Gully is actually on the Humphreys Gully Range but in the old days it was accessed via the Blue Spur Range thus my interpretation of what I think the photo caption intended.

Janet Tillman Thank you Glenn. Another query. Sometimes there is a place called Humphreys and sometimes Humphery's gully on electoral rolls is this the same place? Also on the electoral roll, it says William Mills lived at Humphreys and Elfriede Mills lived in Hokitika. Did they have two houses?

Glenn Johnston Humphreys and Humpheys Gully are the some general area on the Arahura and the "Humphreys" name was often used to describe both places. For electoral role purposes it is the same area. After mining declined Humphreys became more important as a farming area. The hotel and post office telegraph agency were near the mouth of Humphreys Gully which was an important mining area. However between Humpheys Gully settlement and the intersection with the Old Christchurch Road where the Blue Spur Road crossed the Arahura River the general area was known as Humphreys and there were some some small farms along this stretch of road leading up to Humphreys Gully. I'll post a map for you later which you can look at in conjunction with this text. Yes I believe the Mills family did have property at Hokitika and Humphreys.

Glenn Johnston Janet Tillman FYI I've spotted a Mills Creek at Humphreys Gully (on a map). It is not far from the Accomodation House (Hotel) marked on this map. Who knows it may have been where the claim was and named after the Billy Mills in your photo or a relative???

OCR Text Transcription Edit Edit +-Close

Editing is temporarily disabled

Cancel Edit

Start typing here to find a location	Latitude	Longitude	Zoom	Actions

loading google map....

Save Cancel

Menu

Humphrey's Gully Gold Mine, Blue Spur Range

Editing is temporarily disabled