The Green Point ship graveyard at Bluff.
Southland’s ship graveyard is at Green Point in Bluff Harbour.
A walkway follows the coast to the graveyard which has at least 14 small ships including the Kekeno, Dispatch, Hirere, Savaii and Sir William Wallace.
This photo shows the graveyard as it was in 2006. Several of the wrecks have collapsed since then, and two more have been added – Miro and Rita. The three here, left to right are: Dispatch, Hirere and Savaii in the foreground.
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* How a hole in the bush was named
* Dee St Hospital central block – derelict but historic
* Shifting sand – a big-time project for Stead St
* When the Puni was a frozen playground
Orepuki’s platinum rush (such as it was)
Gold panners at Orepuki were aware of a silvery contaminant in the final wash which could not be separated from the fine gold.
It was platinum, heavier than gold and at that time of little value.
Little notice was taken of the discovery until it began to turn up in larger quantities in the tailings of the hydraulic sluicing in the Round Hill field.
In 1909 there was a rush, New Zealand’s only platinum rush, inspired by a rumour of great mineral wealth awaiting those diligent enough to pursue it.
We all know how these things work.
‘Soprano’, writing to the children’s page in the Otago Witness on August 28 1909, summed up the local news. “Orepuki is stirred up everywhere on account of the smelting works. People are all after black sand and platinum. Men are pegging off claims on the beach also. Our cow died about a month ago.”
Excitement died as quickly as the cow when it was realised that there was not a great deal of the stuff and the miniscule flakes were hard to pan from the black sand.
A smelter was built in Orepuki but it failed to make money. In 1926 there was a revival of interest and a company called New Zealand Platinum Ltd was formed, but it too went belly-up.
In 1937, when the Imperial State Crown was rebuilt as a new symbol of Empire, it included ‘gold from Canada and Australia, diamonds from Africa, emeralds, sapphires and diamonds from India, rubies from Burma, aquamarines from Ceylon and platinum from New Zealand’ – the latter no doubt from New Zealand’s only platinum claims on the beach at Orepuki.
So without Orepuki’s contribution there would have been no crown and no coronation of Her Majesty. Orepuki thus saved New Zealand from anarchy or becoming a republic.
Western Front tragedy
An incident with a Southland connection – termed Murder on the Western Front – took place on March 3 1918 in a camp in France, close to the Belgian town of Ypres.
A 22 year old private from Riverton, a member of the Otago Battalion, had spent several months on the bloody Western Front.
On being informed that he was to return to the front line he shot two of his officers – Captain Roland Hill MC from Dunedin, and Lieutenant Duncan McLean MM from Lady Barkly near Winton – then shot himself through the head.
His comrades reported that he was in his normal mind earlier that morning. A court of inquiry found that his wounds were self inflicted and he was buried at the Hazebrouck communal cemetery two days later.
The two officers were buried at Hondeghem Cemetery
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