ALBUM -Leonard Alfred Diamond, born 1911 - address was c/o Seddonville Post Office when he enlisted in WW2.

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DescriptionAndrew Barclay..These photographs belonged to Leonard Alfred Diamond (born 1911, Wellington) and are believed to have been taken on the West Coast. When Len enlisted in the Second World War his address was c/o Seddonville Post Office. Sadly Len was killed during the war in 1942. He is listed on the Seddonville War Memorial.

His family know little of his time on the West Coast. Going from the photos he was either working in mining or potentially some of the Public Works Department projects, or potentially both over a period of a couple of years. We would welcome any insights on the people and places in the photographs.

Map^[1]ContributorAndrew Barclay

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CommentsHeather Newby
Author
Admin
Jeffsplace Granity Shawry Shaw any ideas about the mine photos?
Jeffsplace Granity
Heather Newby pics all new to me,, true pioneering days. i will follow with interest.
Mike Taylor
Chasm creek possibly ?
· Reply ·

James Paul Lindsay Carson
Mike Taylor thats my thought..on that photoe .
John Kerr
What service was he in? RIP.
heather Newby
Author
Admin
Service Number:
10622
Name:Leonard Alfred Diamond
Rank:
Private Armed Force:
Army
Unit:
New Zealand Infantry, 23 BattalionDate of Death:
04 September 1942Age at Death:
31
Conflict:
WW2
john Kerr
Thanks Heather.
Glenn Johnston
Important photos! Good to see "fresh" material.

Heather Newby

Glenn Johnston yes,, fresh material depends upon people contributing.,

Glenn Johnston
These photos may well be from hard rock gold mining/prospecting up the Mokihinui River? Whilst most quartz mining activity there was in the last quarter of the C19th some continued as late as the 1920's and 30's. During the 1930's there was one Mokihinui quartz mining company being quoted on the stock exchange and depression era government subsidised prospecting took place.

Ron Pearson
Queens Battery was one of them. Dad worked up the Rough and Tumble with his father and brother Dave Pearson. Aluvial Gold. The other batteries were further up river towards the Forks. They the Pearsons also had a contract to widen the track near Suicide. In the 1930,s. No photos.

Warner Nut Curry
Ron Pearson Very interesting Ron,
Despite doing a few miles in the scrub never been into the Rough and Tumble been past going up and down going into the Forks,

Ron Pearson
The Battery was the Red Queen you would have passed or inspected on the way up the track.. Hodges creek was a tribritary of the Rough and Tumble. Had coarse aluvial gold and several worked there in the depression. The earthquake added a huge ammount of gravel into the creek bed as it did all about the districts.

Andrew Barclay

Thank you everyone for the comments, really insightful stuff! And a big thank you to Heather for organising them. Len listed the No. 13 Scheme as his employer and Gold Miner as a qualification on his enlistment papers. I have a number of other photos from him so over time we will hopefully be able to share those with the group too.

Glenn Johnston
Andrew Barclay No 13 scheme sounds like one of the depression era - 1930's government subsidised prospecting operations that I mentioned above. Somewhere details of that scheme will be recorded.

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