1914: Westland Goldfields Jubilee
July 8, 2020
By AHNZ
The Westland Goldfields Jubilee started up on 7 January 1914 and ran for about a week. Those gathered were commemorating fifty years since the opening of the Westland Goldfields.
Gatherings and events were centered on Hokitika which temporarily swelled with an estimated 8000 people as visitors poured in. This included c.800 pioneer senior citizens themselves…
“The pioneers have descended in force and have taken complete but peaceful possession of the town. Every gulch and gully, every back settlement and out of the way corner of the district has contributed its quota of sturdy old men and well-preserved old women and these, with the visiting old timers are now the centre of attraction in the town. It is a splendid sight to see the “old ones,” the brave old steadfasts who adventured half a century or more ago, drawn info the wilderness by the all-powerful Iust of gold, as they renew their acquaintance and refresh old-time memories.”- Temuka Leader
Do we compare this to a Woodstock reunion? Or is it more like revisiting an old battleground but without there having been a war? It’s more than a high school reunion. These men and women from all over New Zealand were returning to a landscape they had transformed from where they had built their lives and their country, to explore it again and see each other together again one last time.
They left something behind for us which stands to this day, the Pioneer Statue (image above and below.)
With funds raised from the Jubilee events ( and The State, sorry to say) he was erected a few months later (8 July.)
In 2016 he was equipped at last with his pick, repaired, and relocated nearer the town centre. Somehow the councillor in charge, Jacquie Grant, re-assigned his orientation!
Previously facing and pointing North-East toward the gold, the statue now looks South-East up the road toward the clock-tower. It may be more pleasing to the new site now but this is to lose the meaning and the purpose given the statue so we would remember the pioneers.
The panels on the base once facing NE read “1864-1914 In Honour of the Pioneers of Westland. The Frontier Line” and “Where the vanguard camps today, the rear shall rest tomorrow”. So apparently the Frontier Line and the Vanguard Camp have to move…?
The line of Shakespearian praise previously directed South to the Hokitika River now goes West to the beach: “Fortune’s buffets and rewards, taken with equal thanks.” While, “Daring and conquering, though not sharing in the after-glow,” is now broadcast to Siberia rather than home to Europe. Or, more especially, toward the beach that was the grave-yard for so many in-bound ships full of daring gold-seekers who drowned trying to land.
History has been adjusted 90° clockwise by The State.
To make matters worse, local historian and retired engineer Max Dowell (who was outspoken about the 2016 Hokitika Revolution) says it’s all falling over! It’s as if re-attaching the missing arm and pointing finger have unbalanced the old marble Pioneer.
“On how many axes can Hokitika’s Pioneer statue be said to be rotating on? Two? Certainly it was shifted 90° clockwise. According to Mr Dowell’s plumb-bob it was rotating dirt-wise as early as 2016.
“Looks that way to me too!” – AHNZ
I wonder how it’s looking now? (I’ve visited Hokitika three times since writing this post but paid all my attention to the Hokitika Town Clock instead.)
—
Image ref. West Coast Jubilee; Canterbury Times; Lindsey Best, West Coast History; Facebook
Image ref. Call for subscriptions for the statue, 7 Jan 1914; Opera Programme
Image ref. Pioneer statue unveiling, 8 July, 1914; Auckland Weekly News; Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections
Image ref. Statue as it appear today; Max Pixel; maxpixel.net
Note: See also- Commemorating fifty years of progress: The jubilee celebrations of Westland at Hokitika; Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections
Note: “Today the 14th of September 2016 the Pioneer Statue was placed in Weld Street Hokitika.” – The Coasters Club, Facebook (2016)
Like Comment Share
