Gum Diggers of NZ. The first diggers?

New Zealand, specifically the North Island has some remarkable deposits of a fossil resin. Known as kauri gum this form of ancient resin has been known about and used by the ancient and aboriginal people of New Zealand for thousands of years. The age of kauri gum appears to extend over a much greater range than was first thought.	Many scientists have until recently believed that most of the recovered gum was only 2 or 3 thousand years old. The resin, which was dug up in many thousands of tonnes during the 19th century and the early part of the 20th, may in fact only have be a few thousand years old. The source tree for kauri gum is the Agathis Australis a still existing species.
Several reports are given of the native Maori using the gum as a form of chewing gum and members of particular groups or clans would pass pieces round and carefully save and retain prized pieces for later consumption and chewing. The early European settlers took up a similar practice. Gilbert Mair, a visiting ship’s captain wrote in the early 19th century: ‘The old gum was kept in boiling water till quite plastic; then juice, procured from the milk of the puwha (native thistle) was mixed with it to make it soft and elastic for masticating.’
The Maoris were the first gatherers, then would-be farmers who used the gum as a cash crop to improve their farms. There was no income from farms until the land was cleared sufficiently to ‘produce’ something. By this time the ‘industry’ was established and the ‘gum diggers’ arrived. These were men from many countries of the world and many different backgrounds, who were looking for a new way of life. The work was hard and because of mostly swampy conditions, wet and unpleasant - but quite lucrative for that time. By 1890 there were reputed to be 20,000 gum diggers, so it was inevitable that there would be trouble. Many different languages, a new industry in a new country with few rules as yet, made for difficulties. It needs to be realised that many early settlers arrived to find nothing but what they had brought with them, no way of making a living or even growing anything until the land was cleared. As most European countries had been ‘in working order’ for many years, this was a daunting prospect for many. Until settlement of ‘townships’ became established, there was little use for skills or professions, so the gum fields were a life saver. Prejudices and injustices were overcome and those who were prepared to work often made enough money to get into something else.
The Gum digging Industry
At the peak of the industry there were 20,000 gum diggers in the north - Maori, Chinese, Malaysian and Yugoslav. However, the ethnic group with the greatest presence were the Yugoslavs. Some came on from Australian goldfields or Sydney, but many came direct from the harsh conditions prevailing at home. They saved their money to bring out wives and families, or sent money home, but in a country where money was in short supply this was not always met with approval. They were hard workers in sometimes appalling conditions, and kept to themselves it seems. Local stores ‘grubstaked’ many diggers, who in turn sold their gum to that store, paid their debt and bought the next month’s supplies. In 1893 average earnings for diggers was found to be about 27 shillings per week. The ‘gatherers’ had collected the gum on or near the surface of the ground or on the trees themselves (kauri trees ‘bleed’ when damaged). The diggers dug sometimes quite deep trenches or holes, nearly always in swampy areas, so it was a rather unpleasant job. The gum they collected was the best quality however, so it was worth more. Gum climbers and bleeders scaled kauri using a weighted line and ropes. Boots equipped with toe spikes enabled them to walk up trees like flies and lower themselves down again in bosun's chairs, not all necessarily made it to ground, there were many accidents. Not all gum was collected from trees and the diggers foraged with spears and hurdy gurdy (a cross between a small washing machine and a sifter). The fully kitted out gum digger had a spear, a spade and axe on his shoulder, a bucket for sluicing, a billy for the mid-day brew and a haversack or 'pikau' for carrying the diggings. There was no entertainment in the camps, so the men worked the gum in the evenings. When scraped and polished some beautiful pieces emerged, sometimes with fossils or insects embedded; other pieces were carved. Some of these pieces are on display in museums today. For export the gum was sorted into grades and sold by the gum merchants. In the 1860's many Dalmations (Yugoslavs) and others came to the Pouto Peninsula to dig for Kauri gum. Punahaere, Pukemiro flats and nearly all other swamp areas were dug over. These people lived in rough huts in the swamps and were masters at draining swamps. The Maoris of Pouto and Okara had a great history of digging gum. It is recorded in early school records that rolls fell until school had to be closed (1899 - 1904) because the Maori families were digging the gum fields to raise money to pay for the church. The price good gum fetched in 1887 was 42 pounds a ton and fine gum would bring 43 - 44 pounds a ton. Some of the diggers bought land and became farmers or, around Auckland, planted grapes for wine. For export the gum was sorted into grades and sold by the gum merchants. All that remain today are the many signs on the Kauri Coast landscape, photos of our industrious, digging forebears and amazing gum artifacts in museums and private homes and the many good locally written publications available from the Dargaville Maritime Museum and the Matakohe Kauri Museum.