Felix Cambell - the richest man on the West Coast?

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DescriptionFelix Campbell was possibly the richest man the West Coast has ever seen, leaving an estate worth up to $100m on his death, according to some reports.
Born about 1834, he came to Greymouth from Armagh, Ireland, via Melbourne, and was a founding father of Greymouth.
He was a merchant and was involved in brewing, and stabilised the timber industry.
In 1868, still in his 30s, he applied to build a coal wharf on the Grey River. In 1874 he took the mayor to court when his horse was
injured crossing the tramway on Mawhera Quay.
He married in Reefton in 1877. He appears in the newspapers initially as storekeeper, merchant, and in 1884 he was elected to the
municipal council in Greymouth.
He bought the tug steamer Dispatch in 1884 for $900,000 in today's money.
When the mayor, Mr Waters, died in 1894, he became interim mayor, then mayor. He later was chairman of the Harbour Board, twice.
He died in 1922, age 88, and over 1000 attended his funeral
The last surviving member of the family, daughter Mary, died in 1949. Grandsons, twins Tom and Ted, were left over $3m each, as their father had died.
At the time of his death, Felix Campbell owned the corner of Tainui Street and Mawhera Quay.
Newspaper accounts of what his estate was worth varied from $38m to $101m.
Some servants got a bequest of over $60,000.
Everything he touched seemed to turn to gold, the NZ Herald wrote in his obituary.
His house went to daughter Mary Dennehy. After her death, the Grey Borough Council - looking for new premises after the town hall burned down - paid about 16,000 pounds for it about 1947 - $1.7m in today's money. It reportedly started as a one storey dwelling in the 1880s.
A new council building was later constructed on the same site but some features from the home, including a glass dome and doors, survive in the current building.
His name lives on in Felix Campbell Street.

PICTURES show the old Dennehy house as council officesMap^[1]ContributorLaura Mills

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Location (city or town)GreymouthLandmark (Place)Dennehy houseEventFelix Cambell - the richest man on the West Coast?

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CommentsHumphrey Hollins
Great story. But there was a man in Queensland who truly had the Midas touch. William Knox Darcy, a solicitor became sole owner of the Mount Morgan goldmine in 1882. It was the richest mine in Australia and maybe the world at the time.
In 1900 he got an oil drilling concession over most of Persia. He spent all his massive fortune and eventually asked the engineer to stop drilling.
The man ignored him and a few days later struck oil. Still the biggest oil field in the world. Belongs to BP now.

Carolyn Luck
Looks like Arthur Evan’s in the Greymouth Borough Council office.

Brian Molloy
One very very notable and visible legacy of Felix Campbell is the beautiful stained glass window in St Patrick’s Church which was donated by his family in memory of him. There is an inscription on the bottom left hand corner.

Jeremy Wayne
Helps to explain where the money came from to build the Presbytery on Chapel St. Now Noah's Ark Backpackers

Trish Griffin
Greymouth has some great history fabulous story thank you

Russ Chidgey
That’s a ripe old age he made for back then

Mandy O'Sullivan
Such a little street for a notable man! Great story!

Carolyn Luck
Mrs Dennehy had a special Kennedy Brothers Taxi as she was a very big lady.
My grandfather often talked about Felix Campbell and also spoke about Mrs Dennehy.

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Felix Cambell - the richest man on the West Coast?

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