The Clutha’s First Dam: The Nil Desperandum Project at Quartz Reef Point, 1864–66

Notes

• At the time the River Clutha was known as the Molineux. See C. J. Davey, ‘The Origins of Victorian Mining Technology, 1851–1900’, The Artefact, 19 (1996), 52–62.
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• C. Bell, Inventing New Zealand — Everyday Myths of Pakeha Identity (Auckland: Penguin, 1996), pp. 183–84; J. Phillips and T. Hearn, Settlers — New Zealand Immigrants from England Ireland and Scotland, 1800–1945 (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2008), p. 191.
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• Otago Daily Times, 16 February 1864, p. 5.
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• Otago Daily Times, 1 September 1862, p. 5.
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• Otago Daily Times, 9 September 1862, p. 5. The Molineux was the former name of the River Clutha.
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• Otago Daily Times, 1 November 1862, p. 4.
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• See J. C. F. Johns, Getting Gold: A Practical Treatise for Prospectors, Miners, and Students (London, Charles Griffin and Co., 1898), Chapter II, ‘Gold Prospecting — Alluvial and General’.
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• Otago Daily Times, 16 February 1864, p. 5; 18 June 1864, p. 9; 1 September 1869, p. 2; and others.
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• ‘The Dunstan Goldfield’, Otago Provincial Government Gazette, VI, No. 226, 28 January 1863 (extended by proclamation in Otago Provincial Government Gazette, VI, No. 248, Wednesday 17 June 1863). Otago Witness, 25 June 1864, p. 11.
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• Otago Daily Times, 6 September 1862, p. 5; Otago Witness, 25 June 1864, p. 11.
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• J. Park, ‘Gold Deposits in Otago’, The New Zealand Mines Record, XI, 16 June 1908.
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• T. J. Hearn and R. P. Hargraves, The Speculators’ Dream (Dunedin: Allied Press Ltd, 1985), p. 1.
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• Otago Daily Times, 6 June 1864, p. 5 and 11 July 1864, p. 5.
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• R. S. M. Sinclair, Kawarau Gold (Dunedin: Whitcombe and Tombs, 1962), p. 15.
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• Dunstan Times, 11 September 1868, p. 3; P. Galvin, ed., The New Zealand Mining Handbook (Wellington: New Zealand Government Printer, 1906), pp. 35–36.
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• Sinclair, Kawarau, pp. 16–19; Hearn and Hargreaves, Speculators, pp. 8–14; R. Gilkison, Early Days in Central Otago (Dunedin: Otago Daily Times Press, 1930), pp. 150–53.
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• Otago Witness, 14 October 1865, p. 6.
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• Otago Witness, 23 April 1864, p. 14.
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• Otago Witness, 12 August 1865, p. 7.
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• D. L. Murray, ‘Regional Hydrology of the Clutha River’, Journal of Hydrology (NZ), 14·2 (1975), 85.
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• Otago Daily Times, 24 August 1864, p. 5.
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• Dr Corse was a doctor who held an American Diploma from the Reformed Medical Society of America, New York in 1852 (see R. V. Fulton, Medical practice in Otago and Southland in the early days: a description of the manner of life, trials, and difficulties of some of the pioneer doctors, of the places in which, and of the people among whom, they laboured (Dunedin, 1922), pp. 262–63). He ran several gold mining syndicates until the population and his medical practice and dispensary grew to allow his full attention (see N. Kennedy and R. Murray, Early Pioneers in the Cromwell Area 1863–1880 (Cromwell: Cromwell Historical Society, 1999), pp. 45–46).
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• Otago Daily Times, 17 August 1864, p. 6.
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• Otago Witness, 30 July 1864, p. 13.
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• Otago Daily Times, 24 August 1864, p. 5.
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• Otago Witness, 19 May 1866, p. 7.
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• Thompson and Party, Application to divert Molyneux River at Quartz Reef Point, 28 September 1864, Clyde Warden’s Court Applications, Archives New Zealand Dunedin Office, ABBO Acc. D98 7299.
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• The Dunstan News, 6 March 1863, p. 2.
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• The name was as famous as it was ubiquitous: the Nil Desperandum was a brig registered in Newcastle, England carrying coal around Australasia (Daily Southern Cross, 2 August 1867, p. 7); an alluvial claim at Manorburn (Otago Daily Times, 8 November 1864, p. 4); a quartz claim at the Nevis (Bruce Herald, 13 April 1865, p. 9); a water race from Nokomai Creek to the spur of Spring Hill (Otago Daily Times, 29 October 1873, p. 5); a sluicing claim at Moonlight, Wakatip (Otago Daily Times, 30 October 1873, p. 7); a quartz company at Waipori (Otago Daily Times, 17 June 1881, p. 2); one of the first dredges to operate on the Shotover River (Otago Daily Times, 28 July 1870, p. 2); and another dredge operated near Chatto Creek (Otago Daily Times, 4 February 1899, p. 6). Nil Desperandum quartz companies were at Thames, Coromandel (Daily Southern Cross, 3 October 1867, p. 3) and Inangahua, Reefton (Otago Daily Times, 27 July 1882, p. 2).
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• Cromwell Argus, 17 August 1908, p. 2.
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• Otago Daily Times, 24 August 1864, p. 5.
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• Otago Daily Times, 24 August 1864, p. 6.
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• This is a cofferdam, not a dam or breakwater. According to retired Tasmanian engineer Dr Keith Preston, ‘Dam was used as an all-encompassing term in the mid-nineteenth century, particularly in the press. A wider range of terms has developed since and now a ‘dam’ is limited to a structure that incorporates a spillway for the controlled release of overflows’ (pers. comm., 6 December 2012). Since this was a structure designed to allow the streambed to be pumped dry, it is a cofferdam. The fact that it was built using timber crib construction mimics the cellular design used by modern cofferdam builders (see F. Neghabat and R. M. Stark, ‘A Cofferdam Design Optimization’, Mathematical Programming, 3 (1972), 263–64; C. A. Fetzer, ‘Earth and Rock Fill Coffer Dams’, in R. B. Jansen, ed., Advanced Dam Engineering for Design Construction and Rehabilitation (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1988), pp. 233–38).
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• Otago Witness, 8 October 1864, p. 13. Application for water right, 4 April 1865, Clyde Warden’s Court Applications: Archives NZ Dunedin Office ABBO Acc. D98 7301.
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• The Cyclopedia of New Zealand, 4 (Christchurch: The Cyclopedia Company, 1905), 724.
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• ‘Early Gold Discoveries in Otago by ‘Pioneer’’, New Zealand Mines Record, 4·16 November (1908), 156–57.
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• Cromwell Argus, 17 August 1908, p. 3; G. M. Hassing, Pages from the Memory Log of G.M. Hassing (Invercargill: Southland Times, 1930), pp. 38–40.
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• Memo to Goldfields Warden advising of share transfer, 9 October 1864, Clyde Transfers: Archives NZ Dunedin Office ABBO Acc. D98 7416.
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• Registration of Water right on Hartley Beach in the name of G. W. Goodger and Daniel McMonnagh, 20 September 1864, Clyde Transfers: Archives NZ Dunedin Office ABBO Acc. D98 7416.
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• Otago Daily Times, 11 November 1863, p. 9.
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• Dunstan Times, 24 May 1867, p. 3.
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• ‘Pioneer’, New Zealand Mines Record, 4, 16 November 1908, p. 156.
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• H. Chanson, ‘Historical Development of Stepped Cascades for the Dissipation of Hydraulic Energy’, Transactions of the Newcomen Society, 71·2 (2000), 306–07. See also H. Chanson, ‘Crib Weirs in Queensland, Australia: Some Heritage with a Solid Operational Record’, Royal Historical Society of Queensland Journal, 18·3 (2002), 115–29; M. Chrimes, ‘Concrete Foundations and Substructures: A Historical View’, in R. J. M. Sutherland, D. Humm and M. Chrimes, eds, Historic Concrete: Background to Appraisal (Reston: Thomas Telford Books, 2001), p. 151.
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• Structurae Website (International Database and Gallery of Structures), Fairmont Dam, <http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?id=s0003421> [accessed 7 March 2012].
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• Rideau Canal World Heritage Site, Tales of the Rideau, K.W. Watson, ‘Washed Away — The Story of the Building of the Hogs Back Dam’, <http://www.rideau-info.com/canal/tales/hogsback-dam.html> [accessed 23 March 2012].
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• Structurae Website, Edwards Dam, <http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index. cfm?id=s0001069> [accessed 7 March 2012].
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• Structurae Website, Tulloch Mill Crib Dam, <http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?id=s0011650> [accessed 7 March 2012].
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• Chanson, ‘Crib Weirs in Queensland’, p. 115.
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• H. Chanson, Hydraulics of Stepped Chutes and Spillways (Rotterdam: Balkema, 2002), pp. 244–45; Structurae Website (International Database and Gallery of Structures), Cunningham Weir, <http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?id=s0000863> [accessed 16 March 2012].
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• Based on trigonometric calculation to confirm the reported length of the dam.
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• Otago Witness, 12 August 1865, p. 11; Cromwell Argus, 17 August 1908, p. 2.
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• See Design of Small Dams, a Water Resources Technical Publication, United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, 3rd edn (1987), p. 39112; Dam Safety Guidelines, Part Two: Guidelines for the Building of Minimal Hazard Dams, Auckland regional Council, p. 3. <http://www.arc.govt.nz/albany/fms/main/Documents/Plans/Technical%20publications/101-150/TP109%20Dam%20safety%20guidelines%20Part%202.pdf> [accessed 31 March 2012].
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• The empty vessel was emplaced to use the force of the current to counterbalance the force exerted by the weight of the full boat. See <http://www.pittdixon.go-plus.net/tub-boat-canals/tub-boat-canals.htm> (includes a discussion of Telford’s design of similar structures) [accessed 31 March, 2012].
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• Otago Daily Times, 10 August 1865, p. 7.
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• Otago Daily Times, 8 March 1866, p. 5.
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• Ibid.
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• Otago Daily Times, 13 April 1866, p. 4.
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