A history of Blackball: Goldfields Storekeepers and Hotelkeepers.1865-1869

About this image

DescriptionOne way to try coining cash on goldfields was by selling tools, food, drink, drugs and sex to the diggers. Tools were needed to dig for gold. Food was needed to stay alive while digging. Gin, rum and whisky were downed to keep the spirits up. Beer, on the other hand, was not drunk very freely; it cost too much to pack it in on the backs of horses or donkeys. Opium and other drugs were sold as patent medicine. Sex was sold by women keeping pubs or stores as ‘fronts’ for sex work. Although all these trades could be good earners, traders often went bust within a year or so.
Two stores were set up not long after the rush to the diggings at Blackball.
At some point in 1865 the first opened its doors on the wetlands where Blackball Creek and Ford Creek flowed into the Grey. Henry Hammett was the storekeeper. We know almost nothing about him. He sold, after a short while, to a man called Campbell. The new owner quickly flicked the store on to Mary Hewlitt and her husband Henry Mitchell. Mary and Henry ‘carried it on for a short time’ but found themselves unable to make money. Campbell took back the ownership. Afterwards, he sold to Henry Hammett, who had ‘another try at it’ for a year or so before selling to a couple whose name would become legendary in Blackball: Georgina and William Kinsella.
William Kinsella was an Irish school teacher. Georgina Thompson married him in Hokitika in 1868 and they settled at the store not long after the wedding. They had a licence from the Nelson provincial government to run a ferry across the Grey. Also they had a licence to sell drink. The Kinsella family were soon growing oats as well as running the store, pub and ferry. And they kept poultry: ‘turkeys, fowls, geese, ducks.’ They planted an orchard. They grazed and killed bullocks. William became a gold buyer, acting as an agent for the Bank of New Zealand. Georgina and William were soon bringing up a family.
A second store was opened within a year or two of the rush to Blackball. William Williams opened his doors to trade in a rough clearing among the steep spurs and narrow gorges in the black beech forest of Upper Blackball. Williams not only sold tools and food but also had a licence to sell drink.
A third store was opened on the flats in the late 1860s by a man called Hughes.
Pic: Grey River Argus advertisement for treatment of ague and rheumatism; although gold diggers were usually young and fit, they quickly began to suffer from joint and other health problems because of the hard life on the diggings. Goldfields storekeepers did a brisk trade in bottles of patent medicine.Date of Photo1865 - 1869Map^[1]ContributorStevan Eldred-Grigg

Shown in this image

Location (city or town)BlackballEventGoldfields Storekeepers and Hotelkeepers.1865-1869

Category Information

Category TagGoldmining

From Facebook

Date Created28th April 2021

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

A history of Blackball: Goldfields Storekeepers and Hotelkeepers.1865-1869

Editing is temporarily disabled