John Lloyd of Mt Cook

On a warm, rainy day I set out from the side of the Mt Cook highway to find the grave of John Lloyd.  I had located it on NZ's topographical maps some months before - it is ermarkable how much exploration can be done on a smartphone during TV ad breaks.

The cloud was low over the mountains that day. Lightning flashed and its thunder boomed, echoing around the valleys.

I was using my phone to navigate, although it seemed a simple enough route.  I walked up a grassy vehicle track until it seemed time to leave it.

I had a quick peek at the navigation app on my phone, aware (unlike in my first attempt at another, similar, grave a few km away) that one drop of water on the touchscreen could make it unusable.

The phone indicated a turn off the track then a short scramble up a steepish slope.  My progress was soon halted by close-growing matagouri - for those outside New Zealand, that's a very spiky native bush which grows about head height.  I back-tracked and found a patch of bare rocks, not too slippery from the rain. 

Soon I was at the bottom of the steep slope and saw my first sign of human presence - an old iron fencepost with some wire and a raspberry plant, surely a descendant of ones planted beside the creek I found. I crossed the creek and looked up the slope - finding a narrow track, possibly made by humans, definitely used by animals through the thick undergrowth.  

As I ascended, my view over the valley of the Tasman River grew wider.  I was soon at the top of the slope and another careful peek at my phone showed the grave site about 150m away.  A quick look in the right direction revealed a likely shape just downhill.

It was a small enclosure with a sandstone headstone encased in perspex and protected by straw.

James Lloyd's story is a difficult one to pin down.  "Papers Past" mentions him reliably only once, just after his death:

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF TIMARU AND OAMARU. 

HOLDEN AT TIMARU.

VICTORIA by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen Defender of the Faith: To the next of kin, if any, and all other persons m general having or pretending to have any interest m the estate and effects of John Lloyd late of Birch Hill Station, in the District of Timaru and Oamaru Canterbury New Zealand station-hand deceased. 

WHEREAS it appears by an affidavit of Nicolo Radove of Birch Hill Station aforesaid stockowner sworn on the twentyfifth day of November One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two and filed in this Court that the said John Lloyd died on the sixteenth day of September last at Birch Hill Station aforesaid intestate a bachelor without parent brother or sister uncle or aunt nephew or niece cousin-german or any other known relative and that the said Nicolo Radove is a creditor of the said deceased. 

Now this is to command you that within thirty day after service hereof inclusive of  the day of such service you do cause an appearance to be entered for you in the District Court of Timaru and Oamaru at Timaru and accept or refuse letters of administration of all and singular the personal estate and effects of the said John Lloyd deceased or show cause why the same should not be granted to the said Nicolo Radove a creditor of the said deceased. And take notice that in default of your so appearing and accepting and extracting the said letters of administration the Judge of our said Court will proceed to grant letters of administration of the personal estate and effects of the said deceased to the said Nicolo Radove your absence notwithstanding. 

Dated the eighth day of January One thousand eight hundred and seventy three and in the thirty-sixth year of our reign. 

THOMAS HOWLEY, Clerk. 

Citation, JOHN W. WHITE, Solicitor, Timaru, N.Z.   -Timaru Herald, 13/1/1873.

The Department of Conservation's sign hasn't coped well with the sun and wind of alpine conditions.

For information on Jimmy and Mick, I had to turn to a local history of the area, found at my local library.

"The story behind the grave of Jimmy Lloyd is the story of two men who stuck to each other 'closer than brothers.'  Big Mick Radove met Jimmy Lloyd in a MacKenzie shearing shed and they became so inseparable that, unless there was work for both of them, one would refuse a job. Together they worked, together they came to town, together they toured the hotels.

"When Big Mick took up Birch Hill, Jimmy Lloyd went with him and helped to muster the rugged Mt Cook country. Gradually Lloyd found the work too much for him; eventually it became an effort to walk further than the river flat. He went to Timaru to consult a doctor, who told him that he had an incurable disease and also prophesied the length of time he might expect to live. Refusing to go to hospital, Lloyd returned to Birch Hill. Soon he was hardly able to go about the house, then he became too weak to get out of bed. Each evening Big Mick took care to finish his work in time to carry Lloyd up the hillock at the back of the homestead to see the sunset. There they sat watching the sinking sun transform to crimson the snow crest of Mount Cook. When dusk changed the blue MacKenzie sky to violet, and a crisp wind from the Tasman Glacier gave warning of approaching nightfall, Big Mick, wrapping a blanket around his mate, carried him to the homestead.

"In spite of all possible care, Lloyd became increasingly ill and died almost on the day prophesied by the doctor. It is recorded that Big Mick, in his grief, 'lay on the corpse and tried to breathe life into the lips of his companion and warm the dead body to life again.

"In obedience to his wish, Lloyd was buried on the hillock at the back of the homestead. Big Mick erected a little headstone on the grave and built a white fence around it. The headstone is broken; the inscription almost weathered away; the fence has gone." -William Vance, High Endeavour.

More thunder and lightning reminded me that I was on an exposed hillside and it might be time to head back to the highway.  I returned to my vehicle soaked through from my waist down - it was completely worth it.