A HISTORY OF BLACKBALL: GETTING TO THE GOLD DIGGINGS, 1865-1869

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DescriptionThe first goldseekers who dug and washed in Blackball Creek and Ford Creek from late 1864 were followed by swarms of others. Getting to Blackball, however, was far from easy. Diggers trekked by way of the old Māori track on the northwest bank of the Grey. The Nelson provincial government set gangs of men to work turning the old track into a broader ‘pack’ track – a narrow roadway that could be used by horses or donkeys laden with goods. Or diggers paid a shilling or two to be rowed in whaleboats upriver to Twelve Mile. A township near what we now call Stillwater, Twelve Mile for a few fleeting years was the ‘large and flourishing’ entropot for diggings along the Grey Valley.
At Twelve Mile, goldseekers could be rowed across the river at Langdon’s Ferry. Afterwards the goldseekers would tramp on foot, sometimes leading pack animals, to Blackball Forks. Other goldseekers went from Twelve Mile to Ngāhere on a pack track built by Canterbury. At Ngāhere, goldseekers could take a ferry across the Grey. Canterbury, a richer province, spent more freely than Nelson. The pack track on the southeastern bank of the Grey soon became a fairly good roadway. Yet it was still not easy getting through the wetlands from the new road at Ngāhere to the ferry at the Grey. And, once goldeekers had been ferried across the river or got to Ford Creek by way of the Nelson pack track, nor was it easy to get through the wide wetlands and sopping ‘by-wash’ – an old reach of the river now landlocked – where Blackball Creek and Ford Creek flowed into the Grey. Wayfarers often lost the track and sank up to their waists. Sandflies swarmed.
The way got harder still after goldseekers had made their way across the wetlands. Toiling up the two creeks in the quest for paydirt was more and more challenging the deeper a digger went into the steep eastern spurs of the Paparoa Range. A journalist late in 1868 claimed that ‘many more’ would work the upper creeks if the provincial government only upgraded the ‘frightful’ track that twisted nearly fifteen kilometres into the upper reaches of ‘the Black-Ball and Ford’s Creek.’
Goldseekers by the end of the 1860s could get from Cobden or Greymouth to the diggings at Upper Blackball in three or four days.
Pic: Grey Valley diggers, c. 1867. Artist: J H Lowe.Map^[1]ContributorStevan Eldred-Grigg

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Location (city or town)BlackballEventA HISTORY OF BLACKBALL: GETTING TO THE GOLD DIGGINGS, 1865-1869

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Category TagGoldmining

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Date Created14th April 2021CommentsGlenn Johnston
The Coolgardie track from the Brunner Mine along the crest of the Paparoa Range and then dropping down the eastern side was a very early way for miners to get to to Ford & Blackball Creeks. It pre dated the dray road to Blackball.
Vaughan Smith
Interesting reading. More stories on Moonlight. Roa. Smoko Creek. Would be great to see

Charlie Blanchett
All this is written in books Gold trails of Westland and George fair weather moon lite and many others

Kerry Molloy
for anyone interested there is a book written about moonlight and its gold mining history ,plus assorted characters by local residents .my copy is on loan at present .my late mother wrote a chapter .there is extensive coverage of dredging activity at m… See More

Kyle Webster
Yes I wouldn't mind a copy of the Moonlight book

Kerry Molloy
further to the above .if anyone is able to source a copy of "the collected works of AB(Henry)Lawson",the great australian bush poet and storyteller,he writes one tale mentioning Notown in its goldrush prime. my own ancestors had a prolonged involvement in the notown /kotuku area ,precisely documented (with evidence)by our clan historian.

John Rosanowski
Kerry Molloy Astounding as may sound, the great Henry Lawson was for a time the school teacher at Kaikoura.( Sometimes he had to go out on horseback to collect a few children, because, if an inspector arrived and the numbers were low, he didn't get paid.

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A HISTORY OF BLACKBALL: GETTING TO THE GOLD DIGGINGS, 1865-1869

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