Nokomai River Explained

Nokomai River
Source1 Location:Mount Tennyson
Mouth Location:Mataura River
Subdivision Type1:District
Subdivision Name1:Southland District
Map:
Wikidata:yes
Zoom:6
Frame-Coord:-45.5362°N 168.677°W

The Nokomai River (or Rokomai River) is a river in New Zealand, officially named on 1 January 1931. It rises on Mount Tennyson and flows south-westerly into the Mataura River.[1] The valley was known for its gold rushes. In 1901 113 people lived in the valley.[2] By 1956 the population was down to 17.[3]

A small part of Nokomai patterned mire is in the Nokomai catchment.[4] It is part of a relatively unmodified wetland on several square kilometres of the southern Garvie Mountains.[5] It is possibly the largest such area in Australasia and is dominated by grasses, sedges and mosses, with shallow pools, small islands and clumps of low vegetation. The mire drains north via Roaring Lion Creek to the Nevis River, and south via Dome Burn to the Waikaia River.[6] Cardamine bilobata (bittercress), Neomyrtus pedunculata (rōhutu) and Veronica rigidula (hebe) are Nationally Critical species growing in the area.[7]

Geology

The mountains around the valley are mostly undifferentiated volcaniclastic sandstone and siltstone of the Caples terrane, dating from Permian-Triassic times, around 250 years ago.[8] The valley is aligned with the Nevis-Cardrona Fault System, which has resulted in pumpellyite-actinolite, schist-like facies. The rock has been eroded to produce a Quaternary alluvium in the valley, which increases to a depth of 35m (115feet) in the lower valley. It is likely some gold came from local hydrothermal sources and some was placed in the valley by the Wakatipu glacier, during its Quaternary advances.[9]

History

The Nokomai valley was part of the land acquired by the Crown under the 1848 Kemp’s Deed (over 20000000acres for £2,000)[10] and 1853 Murihiku (6900000acres for £2,600)[11] purchases.[12] The 1998 Ngāi Tahu Settlement redressed some of the injustices.[13]

Donald Angus Cameron (1835-1918)[14] left Scotland in 1854, worked at Penola,[15] sailed from Melbourne to Dunedin in 1859,[16] took his sheep to the Nokomai valley that[17] and the following year[18] and named it after Glenfalloch (hidden glen), near his Inverness birthplace.[19] Glenfalloch station was sold to Frank Hall,[20] or Hore in 1950,[21] with whose family it remains, as a sheep and beef station[22] of 33184ha, on a high country pastoral lease, which extends into the Nevis valley to the north.

Gold

Victoria Gully, an eastern tributary of Nokomai,[23] had its first gold rush when 6 Victorian miners, including James Lamb, discovered alluvial gold in 1862 and named it after their place of origin.[24] It was one of the smaller gold fields, producing in 1862,[25] though a government report in 1865 said it had more than justified expectations.[26] Charles Sew Hoy and his family mined the valley from January 1894.[27] Sew Hoy built two aqueducts to the valley. The 47km (29miles) race from Roaring Lion Creek in the Garvie mountains, to the north, took 3 years to cut.[28] Since 2014 it has had Roaring Lion walking and mountain-biking track alongside it from Garston, which includes Mud Hut and Slate Hut.[29] In 1932 The Nokomai Gold Mining Coy Ltd was floated, with capital of over £60,000 and a 150 ton, 50feet-high, dragline excavator was assembled.[30] It was found unsuitable and was last used on 12 April 1934.[31] The mine closed in February 1943.[32] The dredge was sold for use in the Avon River / Ōtākaro[33] and its generator for the Fraser River, both in 1948.[34] Gold was mined again from 1991.[35]

Cinnabar, almandine, magnetite, spessartine, and grossular garnets also occur in the valley.

Township

A 1924 report claimed that during the gold rushes Nokomai township had over 2,000 people, but by 1924 Glenfalloch's stone homestead stood alone. In the 1870s there was a wide main street, with Thomas Aiton’s Myall Hotel, Thomas Whitaker's Provincial Hotel (c.1862-76)[36] [37] and Job Coulam's United States Hotel (burnt down in 1888).[38] As well as running a store and hotel, Thomas Aiton was also secretary of a gold mining company wound up in 1874.[39] After a petition to the Education Board,[40] on 31 October 1870, a school for 50 children opened. In 1922 it had 9 students.[41] The school seems to have closed between 1938[42] and 1943,[43] attendance still being recorded in 1934.[44] However, the 1924 report said it had closed and its bell moved to Athol school. The teacher, Henry Thurston Evans, set up the Nokomai Weekly Herald, which was hand-written on 4 pages of small post folio.[45] It lasted a year from 11 November 1871.[46]

Railway station

About 8miles from the Nokomai valley, was a flag station named Nokomai, on the Kingston branch railway. It was west of the Slate Range, in the Mataura valley,[47] 72ch74ch from Invercargill, opened about July 1881 and closed to passengers on 4 October 1937 and completely on 25 November 1979.[48] It had a shelter shed on a platform with a cart approach.[49] A siding was added in 1895.[50] The station was 298m (978feet) above sea level, 7.81km (04.85miles) north of Athol and 2.47km (01.53miles) south of Garston.[51] The site is now on the Around the mountains cycle trail.[52]

See also

References

  1. Web site: Nokomai, Southland . 2023-07-21 . NZ Topo Map . en.
  2. Web site: Nokomai Siding . 2023-07-22 . nzetc.victoria.ac.nz.
  3. Web site: 1956 Census . 2023-07-22 . statsnz.contentdm.oclc.org.
  4. Web site: Mount Tennyson, Southland . 2023-07-23 . NZ Topo Map . en.
  5. Web site: 6 August 2013 . DOC wants to seek international recognition for Taieri Scroll Plain . 2023-07-23 . www.doc.govt.nz . en-nz.
  6. A. F. Mark, P. N. Johnson, K. J. M. Dickinson & M. S. McGlone . March 1995 . Southern hemisphere patterned mires, with emphasis on southern New Zealand . Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand . 25 . 23–54 . 10.1080/03014223.1995.9517481 .
  7. Web site: 1989 . Nokomai EA (NOK) . 2023-07-28 . New Zealand Plant Conservation Network . en.
  8. Web site: 2000 . Geology of the Wakatipu area : scale 1:250,000 Digital Download . 2023-07-29 . GNS Online Shop . en.
  9. John H. Youngson, Paul Wopereis, Luke C. Kerr & Dave Craw . 2002 . Au‐Ag‐Hg and Au‐Ag alloys in Nokomai and Nevis valley placers, northern Southland and Central Otago, New Zealand, and their implications for placer‐source relationships . New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 45 . 53–69 . 10.1080/00288306.2002.9514959 .
  10. Web site: 1891 . Kemp's Purchase . 2023-07-29 . nzetc.victoria.ac.nz.
  11. Web site: 1891 . The Murihiku Block . 2023-07-29 . nzetc.victoria.ac.nz.
  12. Web site: July 2009 . Crown Pastoral Land Tenure Review NOKOMAI STATION Lease PS 076 .
  13. Web site: 13 October 1998 . Ngai Tahu Settlement . 2023-07-29 . The Beehive . en.
  14. Web site: 8 January 1919 . OBITUARY. Otago Witness . 2023-07-23 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  15. Book: Wellington City Libraries : Camerons of the Glen : the story of the Camerons of Glenfalloch Station, Nokomai, Central Otago by Offwood, Donald . 2008 . 978-0-473-13955-1 . en.
  16. Web site: 6 August 1859 . Shipping News. Otago Witness . 2023-07-29 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  17. Web site: 26 November 1859 . Otago Witness . 2023-07-29 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  18. Web site: 7 July 1860 . Otago Witness . 2023-07-29 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  19. Web site: 11 November 1924 . PURPLE PATCHES IN NOKOMAI HISTORY. Otago Witness . 2023-07-22 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  20. Web site: 18 October 1950 . GLENFALLOCH STATION Otago Daily Times . 2023-07-28 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  21. News: SLIP BLOCKS ROAD, RIVER . The Press . 24 January 1966 . 2023-07-24 . Papers Past.
  22. Web site: The Station . 2023-07-21 . Nokomai Station.
  23. Web site: Victoria Gully, Southland . 2023-07-23 . NZ Topo Map . en.
  24. Web site: 8 September 1862 . THE NOKOMAI DIGGINGS. Otago Daily Times . 2023-07-27 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  25. Web site: 20 May 1863 . COMMERCIAL. Lyttelton Times . 2023-07-28 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  26. Web site: 1865 . FURTHER PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE OTAGO GOLD FIELDS. . 2023-07-29 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  27. The Press [Christchurch] 20 March 1933, page 12
  28. Web site: April 2019 . Roaring lion, hidden gold . 2023-07-28 . New Zealand Geographic . en-NZ.
  29. Web site: McLeod . Hannah . 2014-12-08 . Blazing a trail in the south . 2023-07-29 . Stuff . en.
  30. New Zealand Herald, 18 March 1933, page 8
  31. Web site: 19 June 1934 . FUTURE OF NOKOMAI Otago Daily Times . 2023-07-23 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  32. Web site: 1944 . MINES STATEMENT BY THE HON. P. C. WEBB, MINISTER OF MINES . 2023-07-28 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  33. Web site: 22 July 1948 . NOKOMAI DREDGE AT WORK. Press . 2023-07-23 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  34. Web site: 16 December 1948 . POWER WILL BE GENERATED BY FRASER RIVER HYDROELECTRIC PLANT THIS WEEK Otago Daily Times . 2023-07-23 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  35. Web site: Nokomai Valley . mindat.org.
  36. Web site: 16 March 1874 . Southland Times . 2023-07-28 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  37. Web site: 14 July 1876 . Southland Times . 2023-07-28 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  38. Web site: 2 November 1888 . NOKOMAI MINING NOTES ETC. Mataura Ensign . 2023-07-28 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  39. Web site: 9 September 1874 . Otago Daily Times . 2023-07-29 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  40. Web site: 27 August 1870 . EDUCATION BOARD. Otago Witness . 2023-07-28 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  41. Web site: 1922 . EDUCATION: PRIMARY . 2023-07-28 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  42. Web site: 4 October 1938 . Lake Wakatip Mail . 2023-07-29 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  43. Web site: 11 September 1943 . Otago Daily Times . 2023-07-29 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  44. Web site: 24 November 1934 . EDUCATION BOARD Southland Times . 2023-07-29 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  45. Web site: 20 December 1871 . Lake Wakatip Mail . 2023-07-22 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  46. Web site: 2 June 1933 . EARLY JOURNAL Southland Times . 2023-07-22 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  47. Web site: 1894 . 1:63360 map Sheet: SD14-16-22-23-30 . 2023-07-21 . www.mapspast.org.nz.
  48. Web site: 2020-10-20 . Stations - NZR Rolling Stock Lists . 2023-07-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201020150010/http://nzrailwaysrollingstocklists.weebly.com/stations.html . 20 October 2020 .
  49. Web site: Scoble . Juliet . Station Archive . Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand.
  50. Web site: 1895 . REPORTS BY THE ENGINEER-IN-CHIEF AND MR. C. NAPIER BELL ON THE CONDITION OF THE OPENED RAILWAYS. . 2023-07-29 . paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  51. Book: New Zealand Railway and Tramway Atlas . Quail Map Co. . 1965 . First . 29.
  52. Web site: Nokomai, Southland . 2023-07-29 . NZ Topo Map . en.

External links

-45.55°N 207°W

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