{"id":28,"date":"2011-04-08T05:45:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-08T05:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.otago.ac.nz\/hocken\/2011\/04\/08\/nobblers-duffers-and-life-on-the-goldfields\/"},"modified":"2011-04-08T05:45:00","modified_gmt":"2011-04-08T05:45:00","slug":"nobblers-duffers-and-life-on-the-goldfields","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/nobblers-duffers-and-life-on-the-goldfields\/","title":{"rendered":"Nobblers, duffers, and life on the goldfields"},"content":{"rendered":"

The spirit of the Otago Gold Rush is colourfully captured in Allan Houston\u2019s manuscripts. Not much is known about Houston, but he arrived from Scotland on the Hamilla Mitchell in September 1864 and was for a short time a self-described miners\u2019 representative, practical digger, and storekeeper at Gabriel’s Gully. His manuscript, compiled in 1865, includes description of work and social life on the goldfields, politics, farming, commerce, flora, fauna, and settlements in Otago.
\ufeff <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A group of Tuapeka men<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffCommenting on a digger\u2019s reminiscences of the first rush in 1861, Houston wrote: \u2018Of all unpoetical sort of things, one of the most so, is for a young, newly married person to \u201cgo off to the diggings\u201d. He is indeed a brave, bold, man who can go straight home & without wincing quietly say \u201cWife I\u2019m off to the new rush\u201d! It\u2019s more trying than \u201cpopping the question\u201d for the decent man has a great chance of being considered insane by his affectionate partner in Life \u2013 \u201cWhat! Going to the diggings? Eh! what do you mean, Sir?\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

Houston explains some of the lingo in use at the time, including:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Making Tucker: Getting gold only sufficient to make a living.<\/li>\n
  • A Duffer: A failure \u2013 disappointment.<\/li>\n
  • A Stringer: A small vein of gold that does not pay, but leads a digger on \u2018Will-o\u2019the-Wisp\u2019 like, and ends in a \u2018Duffer\u2019.<\/li>\n
  • Cockatoos: Small owners of land, but poor.<\/li>\n
  • Jumping a Claim: Taking forcible possession \u2013 \u2018Might being right\u2019 \u2018a-la-revolver\u2019 \u2013 Any person having a \u2018Miner\u2019s Right\u2019 or \u2018Licence\u2019, can lawfully \u2018Jump\u2019 the claim of those without this document.<\/li>\n
  • New Chum: The latest arrival.<\/li>\n
  • Old Identity: Old Settlers of Otago \u2013 Barracouta \u2013 i.e. a fish contemptibly applied to old settlers.<\/li>\n
  • New Iniquity: The Victorian new arrivals.<\/li>\n
  • A Nobbler: A glass of any Liquor \u2013 usually costs 1\/- at the diggings.\u00a0\ufeff<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n
    <\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Houston’s description and photos of Balclutha and\u00a0the Crown Inn.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffThese manuscripts would be a great transcription project for someone. The picture painted is sometimes a little too rosy to be convincing, but Houston was there and his writing is full of life, charm, and a sense of optimism prevailing over adversity. <\/span>\ufeff<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
    <\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    The scene at Gabriel’s Gully, 1865<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    \ufeff<\/span>
    Post prepared by David Murray, Assistant Archivist, from Houston, Allan: \u2018The Gold fields of Otago, A.H.’s Jottings 1865 with Lithographic Illustrations. Memoranda of Otago Gold diggings and of Gold Diggers, from personal inspection and reliable information written in March 1865\u2019 (Misc-MS-1413).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The spirit of the Otago Gold Rush is colourfully captured in Allan Houston\u2019s manuscripts. Not much is known about Houston, but he arrived from Scotland on the Hamilla Mitchell in September 1864 and was for a short time a self-described miners\u2019 representative, practical digger, and storekeeper at Gabriel’s Gully. His manuscript, compiled in 1865, includes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14625,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15345,15348],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gold-mining","category-historical-photographs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14625"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}