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Tiny Lee, dredgemaster at Kumara for nearly 30 years.
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DescriptionTINY LEE - 1913-2002 (Thomas)
Tiny was born at Tokamaru in the Manawatu. He left school at a young age to work with his father in the flax mill on the eastern edge of the Makeura swamp, earning 8 shillings a day. When war broke out and the depression hit the mill closed and he moved to Barrytown to work in the flax mill then on the building of the Barrytown dredge. He boarded at the Barrytown Hotel where my mother Lizzie Duggan was staying as she was teaching at the Barrytown school. They started building the Barrytown dredge in 1937 and in 1939 he moved to Kaniere as it was about to start dredging in December 1939. At the time the Rimu and Arahura were also dredging.
The Kaniere dredge was built by New Zealand Railways for Prattens – they were the biggest Jam manufacturers in Australia. They went under the umbrella of Gold Mines of New Zealand. It was the biggest dredge in the Southern Hemisphere. Kaniere was not on a river – it was glacial – it had stones on it that were as big as houses. On Kaniere he said they were never below 1000 ounces a month and one days wash up was 700 ounces. Kaniere was to go for about 8-10 yrs but war broke out and they finished dredging there in September 1953. The total gold recovered was 17,5000 ounces valued at 1,800,000 pounds. Kaniere was dismantled and transported to Greenstone, Kumara. When dredging in Kaniere it was no further than 50yrds from the houses but no one complained. It was an all electric 3000 tons with about 60 electric motors on it running jigs, screens etc. Moving from Kaniere took 2 ½ years. The tumblers were too heavy for the Taramakau Bridge near Kumara so they were railed to Inchbonnie and transported from there. Westland Transport would have been the main trucking firm used to carry the pieces with Fergusons and Langridges doing the site works. Tiny was shore forman at the time.
On the 12th of April 1954 with my 2 brothers, Bernie & Kevin mum and dad upped sticks and moved to Kumara leaving St Josephs school at Kaniere. We moved into a house on Greenstone Rd. -, still being built- one of seven the dredging company supplied. Oh the luxury of a flush toilet.!!! Families from Hokitika later moved into these houses. Noel Wafer, Peter Muir, Stuart Wilson, John Montague, Jock Thompson to name a few plus about 18 kids.
The 1000 ton pontoon was launched at its new site at the Greenstone in May 1955. In the coming months the superstructure weighing 3100 ton was added. The dredge commenced operating again on the 17th May 1956. On the 17th December 1957 Tiny passed his Dredgemasters Class “B” certificate and on the 27th April 1959 he passed his Dredgemasters Class “A” certificate and was appointed Dredgemaster. The dredge worked in 3 shifts of 4 men over 24hrs 6 days a week. Initally men were transported from Hokitika each day - Bob Little, Tommy Jones, Bill Ross, Jimmy Maitland, Paddy Manzoni, Arthur Rooney Horrie Olson, Lindsay Whiteside to name a few. The company employed both local Kumara men as well as Hokitika men. There were fitters,welders, draftsman, electricians , Painters, Carpenters. Lindsay Whiteside and later Alex McKenzie were carpenters. Bob Collins was a manager and George Bradley was dredgemaster before Tiny. Kevin Buckley-Tiny’s nephew- was the general Manager and accountant.
Gold Mines of New Zealand had an office on Mawhera Quay where Kevin worked out of with office staff included Gwen Mintoff, Audrey Gladstone, Jeanette Boddy, Therese Coll.
Life in the Lee home was a busy life. The phone would go at all hours of the night with broken bucket pins, broken buckets, the stackers break down and the buckets come off the bottom tumblers and fall into the pond – all 350 tonne of them. That happened twice in Tiny’s watch. Buckets would last 2-3years but buckets pins would only last 6 – 8 months. But the phone calls mostly came in the middle of the night – lovely on a party line where our number was 26J 1 short 3 long rings. Tiny would organize men mainly in the early days from Hokitika and they would come up and work till the Job was done and mum would crank up the coal range and cook them up breakfast before they went home. Mum was as much part of the dredge works as dad. In later years when Bernie- Tiny’s son was a qualified electrician he would be called out to repair electric motors and to make any urgent repairs to electrical systems.
After working out the Greenstone the dredge moved down the Taramakau. Up the top end of the Taramakau most months we were getting 1000 to 1500 ounces a month, further down it got a lot less. One part we never got more than 400 ounces.
Tiny retired in the mid 1970’s and the dredge ceased operation in 1976 and sold to an American company named Alluvial Gold – Grey River Valley.
Tiny said there was more gold in the Grey Valley than Kaniere and Kumara together.
The American company, managed by Richard Hanson, used to take Tiny up the Valley to get his advice but they never took it. Tiny’s grandson Lee Swinburn worked on the dredge in 1991 as an apprentice at Dispatch Foundry who were contracted to carry out modifications along with many other local engineering companies. They removed vital recovery components and introduced new ones but this failed for them and the dredge was eventually sold.
Tiny and Liz retired to live their days out in Blaketown in 1975.ContributorMargaret Swinburn
Tiny was born at Tokamaru in the Manawatu. He left school at a young age to work with his father in the flax mill on the eastern edge of the Makeura swamp, earning 8 shillings a day. When war broke out and the depression hit the mill closed and he moved to Barrytown to work in the flax mill then on the building of the Barrytown dredge. He boarded at the Barrytown Hotel where my mother Lizzie Duggan was staying as she was teaching at the Barrytown school. They started building the Barrytown dredge in 1937 and in 1939 he moved to Kaniere as it was about to start dredging in December 1939. At the time the Rimu and Arahura were also dredging.
The Kaniere dredge was built by New Zealand Railways for Prattens – they were the biggest Jam manufacturers in Australia. They went under the umbrella of Gold Mines of New Zealand. It was the biggest dredge in the Southern Hemisphere. Kaniere was not on a river – it was glacial – it had stones on it that were as big as houses. On Kaniere he said they were never below 1000 ounces a month and one days wash up was 700 ounces. Kaniere was to go for about 8-10 yrs but war broke out and they finished dredging there in September 1953. The total gold recovered was 17,5000 ounces valued at 1,800,000 pounds. Kaniere was dismantled and transported to Greenstone, Kumara. When dredging in Kaniere it was no further than 50yrds from the houses but no one complained. It was an all electric 3000 tons with about 60 electric motors on it running jigs, screens etc. Moving from Kaniere took 2 ½ years. The tumblers were too heavy for the Taramakau Bridge near Kumara so they were railed to Inchbonnie and transported from there. Westland Transport would have been the main trucking firm used to carry the pieces with Fergusons and Langridges doing the site works. Tiny was shore forman at the time.
On the 12th of April 1954 with my 2 brothers, Bernie & Kevin mum and dad upped sticks and moved to Kumara leaving St Josephs school at Kaniere. We moved into a house on Greenstone Rd. -, still being built- one of seven the dredging company supplied. Oh the luxury of a flush toilet.!!! Families from Hokitika later moved into these houses. Noel Wafer, Peter Muir, Stuart Wilson, John Montague, Jock Thompson to name a few plus about 18 kids.
The 1000 ton pontoon was launched at its new site at the Greenstone in May 1955. In the coming months the superstructure weighing 3100 ton was added. The dredge commenced operating again on the 17th May 1956. On the 17th December 1957 Tiny passed his Dredgemasters Class “B” certificate and on the 27th April 1959 he passed his Dredgemasters Class “A” certificate and was appointed Dredgemaster. The dredge worked in 3 shifts of 4 men over 24hrs 6 days a week. Initally men were transported from Hokitika each day - Bob Little, Tommy Jones, Bill Ross, Jimmy Maitland, Paddy Manzoni, Arthur Rooney Horrie Olson, Lindsay Whiteside to name a few. The company employed both local Kumara men as well as Hokitika men. There were fitters,welders, draftsman, electricians , Painters, Carpenters. Lindsay Whiteside and later Alex McKenzie were carpenters. Bob Collins was a manager and George Bradley was dredgemaster before Tiny. Kevin Buckley-Tiny’s nephew- was the general Manager and accountant.
Gold Mines of New Zealand had an office on Mawhera Quay where Kevin worked out of with office staff included Gwen Mintoff, Audrey Gladstone, Jeanette Boddy, Therese Coll.
Life in the Lee home was a busy life. The phone would go at all hours of the night with broken bucket pins, broken buckets, the stackers break down and the buckets come off the bottom tumblers and fall into the pond – all 350 tonne of them. That happened twice in Tiny’s watch. Buckets would last 2-3years but buckets pins would only last 6 – 8 months. But the phone calls mostly came in the middle of the night – lovely on a party line where our number was 26J 1 short 3 long rings. Tiny would organize men mainly in the early days from Hokitika and they would come up and work till the Job was done and mum would crank up the coal range and cook them up breakfast before they went home. Mum was as much part of the dredge works as dad. In later years when Bernie- Tiny’s son was a qualified electrician he would be called out to repair electric motors and to make any urgent repairs to electrical systems.
After working out the Greenstone the dredge moved down the Taramakau. Up the top end of the Taramakau most months we were getting 1000 to 1500 ounces a month, further down it got a lot less. One part we never got more than 400 ounces.
Tiny retired in the mid 1970’s and the dredge ceased operation in 1976 and sold to an American company named Alluvial Gold – Grey River Valley.
Tiny said there was more gold in the Grey Valley than Kaniere and Kumara together.
The American company, managed by Richard Hanson, used to take Tiny up the Valley to get his advice but they never took it. Tiny’s grandson Lee Swinburn worked on the dredge in 1991 as an apprentice at Dispatch Foundry who were contracted to carry out modifications along with many other local engineering companies. They removed vital recovery components and introduced new ones but this failed for them and the dredge was eventually sold.
Tiny and Liz retired to live their days out in Blaketown in 1975.ContributorMargaret Swinburn
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EventTiny Lee, dredgemaster at Kumara for nearly 30 years.
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West Coast New Zealand History (27th Feb 2025). Tiny Lee, dredgemaster at Kumara for nearly 30 years.. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 20th Mar 2025 18:14, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/34546