The announcement of the death of Mr T. A. S. Kynnersley will be heard of with regret by many who have been or are now residents of the Nelson goldfields, where he for several years acted in the capacity of Commissioner. Appointed to that office by Mr Saunders, a former Superintendent of Nelson, Mr Kynnersley proved himself to be an energetic and efficient officer. As Commissioner, Resident Magistrate, and Warden he had multifarious duties to perform throughout an extensive district, including the Grey and Buller Valleys, and underwent an amount of hard work and exposure which militated much against his health, delicately constituted as he was. On relinquishing his position after several years' service during the busiest time on the Nelson goldfields, he proceeded to England for a year, and on his return was re-appointed Commissioner by the present Superintendent of the Province. The appointment, however, was not sustained by the Provincial Council, and Mr Kynnersley stood for the seat for Westland North in the House of Representatives, and was elected, holding his seat only for one session prior to the last dissolution of Parliament, when there was a redistribution of seats on the West Coast. Subsequently he was elected a member of the Nelson Provincial Council by the constituency of the Grey district, but the state of his health precluded him from retaining the position, and he retired from public life, taking up his residence near Picton, and visiting the other colonies during the winter season. Such was the state of his health, however, that it was impossible he could live in any climate, and latterly he returned to Nelson, to await his death, which occurred on Saturday. Previous to his coming to New Zealand, Mr Kynnersley had served as an officer in the Royal Navy. He has died at an early age, and after much suffering, which he bore with extraordinary patience. At the cessation of his duties as Commissioner on the West Coast, and several times since, he had been presented with complimentary testimonials by residents of the district, with whom he was a very general favorite, more on account of his administrative skill than of his success in a representative capacity. -Wellington Independent, 2/2/1874.
There has passed from amongst us one who in his day occupied no small space in public estimation. Thomas Alfred Sneyd Kynnersley began life as a midshipman in the Royal Navy. Having reached the rank of Lieutenant his health broke down through a ruptured blood-vessel in the lungs. A search for a genial climate led him to New Zealand. Possessed of a naturally active spirit he soon sought and obtained public employment. Having served as Warden and Resident Magistrate at the Wakamarina, he was afterwards transferred to the West Coast. There he soon made a name for himself as an officer of untiring energy and great ability. Mr. Saunders when Superintendent of the Province discovered in him such administrative power as led him to appoint him to the high office of Commissioner of the West Coast Goldfields. A broken down constitution could not long bear the rough life of an early goldfield, but had not a change been made by Mr. Curtis in Mr Kynnersley's position, whereby he was reduced from the rank of Commissioner to that of Warden again, it is probable that he would have died in harness. On giving up his appointment and his seat in the House of representatives, and in the Nelson Provincial Council, he tried a trip to England, which, however, did not give him the relief he sought; he therefore returned to Nelson — to die. He leaves behind him many earnest friends. -Colonist, 3/2/1874.
MEN OF THE WEST - VIII
Kynnersley packed much into short life
(By W. F. HEINZ)
One of the most colourful administrators of the western goldfields is almost unknown. Thomas Alfred Sneyd Kynnersley, in his short life of 34 years, played an important part not only as an administrator but as a man well able to come to terms as a “hail fellow well met" with the cosmopolitan population of the mining camps of the 1860s.
His popularity never waned, even in the troubled autumn of 1868.
Kynnersley entered the Royal Navy at an early age and rose rapidly. While serving in H.M.S. Syren in 1858 he was commissioned lieutenant as the ship helped blockade runners into Confederate ports early in the American Civil War.
His last ship was H.M.S. Orpheus, a steam corvette which was assigned to the Australian station. Then, because of ill health, which was to dog him for the rest of his life, Kynnersley was granted long-term leave from the Navy. H.M.S. Orpheus made several trips to New Zealand with stores before she was wrecked on the south spit of Manukau Harbour on February 7, 1863, with the loss of 189 lives; New Zealand’s greatest shipping disaster.
Lieutenant Kynnersley had come to New Zealand on an earlier voyage and settled at Pelorus Sound, Marlborough, where until 1864, it is said, he idled around fishing most most of the time.
Wakamarina rush In May that year the Wakamarina gold rush, less than 10 miles from Pelorus, broke out, bringing miners by the hundreds from Otago. Kynnersley, with his background, seemed the very man to control the Marlborough goldfield and he was appointed magistrate and warden that October.
As the West Coast rush extended north into the south-west of Nelson province, he was transferred to the West Coast early in 1865. His headquarters were at Cobden, on the north bank of the Grey River, where he continued as warden and magistrate.
Kynnersley’s district ran from Karamea in the north to the Grey River and took in all the country west of the Grey, from its source at Lake Cristabel to the sea.
He had many problems in the early days, made worse by the fact that the Grey divided the two provinces. Gold miners required separate miner’s rights, stores, hotels and separate licences if shifting across the river. All this brought ill feeling and petty jealousies between the Canterbury and Nelson provincial governments. The problem was not improved by the fact that the Nelson goldfield was remote and could be reached only by sea from Nelson.
As the rush extended up the Grey Valley Kynnersley held court at Cobden, keeping control of the hordes of men prospecting the creeks and terraces of the Grey and Paparoa ranges.
New personality In 1866 a new personality entered the field. He was "Bill Fox of the Arrow,” who was to extend the rush to the fabulous rich beaches and terraces along the coast to the north. Bill Fox saw Kynnersley at his Cobden headquarters and suggested they make a prospecting venture up the coast towards Westport.
On May 9, 1866, Kynnersley chartered a small steamer, the Woodpecker, with Fox and eight other prospectors, and anchored off a small bay close to Seal Island. Further north at the mouth of the Potikohua River (renamed the Fox River), gold was found and before long a new rush to the northern beaches began. The mining camp of. Brighton quickly arose, complete with hotels, dance houses, stores and newspapers.
Waite’s pakahi, where in March, 1867, a Negro named Addison found rich gold leads. Addisons Flat was then established, with a multitude of stores and hotels on the high terrace. Kynnersley soon shifted his headquarters to Westport as well as establishing a warden’s court at Charleston. He reported “4000 people in tents” at Addisons and the population rose to a peak of 10,000 in 1868. The area comprising the remains of Brighton and Charleston and Addisons had a population of 12.000. Kynnersley’s work was fully recognised by the Nelson Government on January 10, 1868, for he was then appointed chief warden and gold field commissioner of the Nelson south-west goldfield, with full control of the field and powers to spend monies on roads, tracks, laying out of townships, erection of buildings and other public works. He was well respected by diggers and businessmen alike for his court judgments and fair dealings.
Arthur Dudley Dobson, in his “Reminiscences” (published in 1930), gives a first-hand account of the mettle of Kynnersley. Dobson at the time was assistant engineer to John Blackett, the Nelson provincial engineer. “In 1868 Lieutenant Kynnersley, John Blackett and I were staying at the Razorback (Punakaiki). A large number of gold diggers were working in the neighbouring beaches and terraces along the track from Cobden to Brighton and Westport.
Chasing man “We were having a meal in a combined store-hotel when suddenly revolver shots and shouting were heard. On going outside we saw some 30 to 40 men watching a woman who, with a revolver in each hand, was chasing a man about the tents. She came up to where we were standing, threatening everyone.
"Kynnersley said: ‘We must stop this and as I am the only bachelor in the party, I will try first.’ His appearance on the scene produced a calm; the men were silent and the woman, who was mad with drink, paused a moment and stood still on the road in front of the store.
“She then began shouting that she was the woman for whom Captain Jarvis had been hanged and that she would shoot anyone who dared to interfere with her. Kynnersley walked quickly up to her, she threatening him with the revolver.
“Getting near her, he said: ‘Come along with me to the bar and tell me all about your troubles. I dare say I can put them right.’
“She followed him into the bar; he signalled to the barman to give her a glass of brandy, this being placed near her right hand. She put down the revolver and took up the glass.
“Kynnersley made another sign to the barman to put another glass at her left hand, at which she put down the other revolver and took up the second glass.
Snatched revolvers “Instantly Kynnersley snatched up both revolvers and left the bar. The woman then made a speech to the crowd and said, ‘Now that Captain Jarvis is dead, life is not worth living'.’’
This story is an echo of the celebrated Jarvey poisoning case in Dunedin, in 1865. Jarvey was a sea captain trading between Australia and New Zealand for a time.
He traded around the New Zealand coast during the gold rush, having left a wife, said to be the daughter of a wealthy squatter in Australia.
In New Zealand Jarvey married again. On his first wife’s arrival in Dunedin he poisoned his second wife and was hanged at the Dunedin gaol on October 24, 1865.
(The author of this story, for some reason, has got this part of the Jarvey story wrong. Andrew Jarvey met his first wife, Catherine, when he was a warder on a prison ship and she was an 18 year old transportee. They married and settled down in Tasmania and Jarvey took command of a ship, trading between Tasmania and the mainland. There, in a small coastal town near Melbourne, he met and married Margaret Little. Margaret, finding that her husband hadn't visited her for a while, searched the shipping news and found him operating out of Port Chalmers. She sailed there to find her husband and was given a Dunedin address at the port. When she knocked on the door, it was opened by Catherine. Jarvey poisoned Catherine to be with Margaret and was hanged for it. Margaret, I believe, came from a respectable family and the shame was too much for her to go home. She did as many women did who had little choice in those days.)
Not long after the Fenian riots at Hokitika in March, 1868, trouble broke out among the Irish factions at Addisons. There are many colourful tales of “the battle of Addisons Flat,” some of which have been handed down to succeeding generations. There can be no doubt that the tolerance of Kynnersley averted a serious situation. This unbiased account of the incident of April 2, 1868, was published in a Celtic journal many years ago.
Dancing all night “In those days, dancing rarely ceased until daylight and this occasion was no exception. After the ball the men gathered together in little groups in the street.
“Not far away were groups of Orangemen. Some of these men offered a wager that a girl, Bella Newton by name, would not be permitted to ride a horse unmolested through the Hibernians.
“The girl accepted the wager and after tying an orange handkerchief around her neck, she mounted a white horse and set off.
“As she passed the ranks of Hibernians they took the horse by the head and demanded the meaning of the exploit. She informed them the ride was the result of a wager, then one, taking the handkerchief from her neck, faced the Orangemen and tore it to shreds,” said the report.
Battle spread “This was the signal for the commencement of a first-class riot. News of the battle quickly spread north and south and men both orange and green flocked to take sides.
“At Addisons it is reported there was not a pick or axe handle to be purchased within a mile radius of the town.
“As the day progressed the Orangemen were compelled to retreat across the pakahi (swamp) to about two miles from town. The battle continued unabated in the mud and slush until the arrival post haste of Commissioner Kynnersley from Westport.
“Undaunted, Kynnersley rode his horse into the middle of the fray and standing on a rock protruding from the swamp, he appealed to the men with such courage and forcefulness that hostilities immediately ceased. The rock on which the commissioner stood is still known as the Kynnersley Rock.
"Kynnersley himself dismissed the riot as ‘Nothing but a miserable street brawl’.”
Ill health By the end of 1869, due to continuous ill health, he resigned as commissioner and warden and left in the S.S. Gothenburg for Melbourne. While the steamer was on the roadstead of Greymouth he was given an illuminated address and a native wood casket from the business and professional men of Greymouth and the Grey Valley.
In a letter dated January 20, 1870, to his friends on the West Coast Kynnersley wrote: “I am unable to express to you the pride and satisfaction which I feel in the possession of the testimonial, not only for its intrinsic value as a very tastefully designed and skilfully executed work of art; but as a most gratifying testimonial that while acting in my late official capacity, I was fortunate enough to succeed in discharging the duties of my office in such a manner as not to meet with your disapprobation.”
While in Melbourne he resigned his commission in the Royal Navy and on his return to New Zealand he was appointed magistrate and warden of the Wangapeka goldfield for a time. In March 1872 he was elected to the executive of the Nelson Provincial Council, but his health declined rapidly — from tuberculosis — and he gave up all public offices.
Kynnersley died in 1874, his grave being surmounted by an obelisk presented by the people of Nelson. He lies by other men of the West — Thomas Brunner, Reuben Waite and George Fairweather Moonlight. Although no place names of Kynnersley survive in the west today, there were two mining camps by that name in the gold days. The first Kynnersley, at the junction of the Inangahua and Waitahu rivers, near Reefton, was born when prospectors passed over the Reefton Saddle from the Grey River in 1866, and found rich alluvial gold in the area.
Kynnersley, with its stores and hotels, was the distributing centre of the alluvial field until late in 1869. It was abandoned when rich gold reefs were found at Reefton.
The township of Kynnersley, built on the south spit of the Mokihinui River, north of Westport, which marked the rich beach sands found in 1867, met a similar but more spectacular end: the whole camp, comprising stores, hotels, and tents, was washed out to sea in a series of floods in the river in November and December, 1867. -Press, 8/12/1973.
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