Arawata Bill and his horse Dolly, 1938.

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DescriptionWilliam O'Leary, known as Arawata Bill, was born in Tuapeka, New Zealand, on 28 Oct 1865, the second child in a family of eight.
O'Leary first worked on stations in Maniototo county. Then spent the next 14 years prospecting in South Westland. Next Bill took a job as a ferryman on the Waiatoto River, where he earnt the respect and affection of both travellers and the local community alike.
In 1928 he resigned as a ferryman to search for gold, and thereafter spent most of his life prospecting the Arawata river valley. He also searched for, and claimed to have found, a lost ruby mine in the Red Hills area, he also kept a sharp eye out for a legendary South Westland treasure, a sea-boot filled with gold, supposedly hidden somewhere in the Cascade River valley.
William O'Leary was a consummate bushman, an utterly self-reliant man who would often cross the alpine passes in thigh-boots, his pick doing duty as an ice-axe, his short, stocky frame carrying enormous loads over terrain that would break a packhorse. Two passes, in the Mt Aspiring National Park and west of Lake McKerrow, bear O'Leary's name.
O'Leary retired to the Queenstown district in his mid-70s, still making occasional prospecting trips. When the time came O'Leary entered a Dunedin home for the aged. But the institutional life cramped him, and he made several attempts to return to the Arawata. He died in Dunedin Hospital on 8 November 1947 at the age of 82, having never married. He had made no significant gold finds during his lifetime, but, as he admitted to a friend, his prospecting only rationalised his love for the backcountry.
During his lifetime Arawata Bill was widely respected in South Westland for his bushcraft, his independence, and his integrity. In 1953 poet Denis Glover wrote Arawata Bill immortalizing him as the solitary New Zealand prospector.
.Date of Photo1938Map^[1]ContributorRichard Strong

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Location (city or town)ArawhataPersonDollyWilliam O'LearyArawata BillEventArawata Bill and his horse Dolly, 1938.

From Facebook

Date Created23rd September 2022CommentsSuzie Breeze
Oh I cried when I read the part in Arawahata Bill’s book when Dolly died- very sad

Trevor Grant
Good photo that

Mary Biddington
Great photoMarilyn Grady
Very interesting.

Gregor B Campbell
http://otagotaphophile.blogspot.com/.../william-oleary...
Reply23h
Tabitha Mary
Some more information in these pictures if anyone is interested. (I’m a different branch of O’Leary but he’s mentioned in a family history book I have)

Tabitha Mary

Tabitha Mary
Rhonda Glasson
He must’ve been a great man in those days Read a good deal of history with him in it

Don Pearce
That photo is amazing. I think he's wearing Skellerup

Melanie Galbraith
Ta Whangawhanga let's go to the cascade lol

Cheryl Townsend
What a interesting man great post

Maree Lewis
Thankyou Richard. A great tribute.

Ange Beck
This is great

Mick Latta
David Atkinson

Paul Latta our great great uncle

David Atkinson
Mick Latta make a good movie

Joshua Larsen
Jordie Foster a few more years done there this will be you son

Jordie Foster
Joshua Larsen that’s the old man mate

Tracie Piercy
Mike Bennett (Barrytown) made a short film about Arawhata Bill. I think I have the dvd tucked away.
Reply20h
Anita Lorraine Barltrop
Tracie Piercy I wish I could see it

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Arawata Bill and his horse Dolly, 1938.

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