Page 28 - rigneymaster

One Man’s Goldfield: the story of the Horseshoe Bend Diggings, William Rigney and Somebody’s Darling

schist at the downstream end of the diggings. In later years the trench has been
covered with sticks and clay so that it could be safely crossed. It has been suggested
that Rigney knew Ford, Lunday and Sullivan, and may have visited them on his way
from the Woolshed to Butchers Creek and returned to work with them when the later
claim proved unprofitable. There is no evidence to either support or discount this
possibility.

Rigney’s mining ventures at the Bend

William Rigney's New Zealand mining career spanned around forty years from his
original ventures at Gabriel’s Gully, the Woolshed and Butchers Creek to his
prolonged stay at the Bend.

A copy of a claim registration by Rigney in 1864 indicates that he registered as a
miner in 1863. [link to copy of registration document]

The last reference to his efforts is in 1896 when it was written "William Rigney has
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embarked in new mining enterprises full of labour, and, of course, full of promise."
To be full of labour and promise at 63, after thirty years of digging races, tunnels and
claims, and working in the freezing water of the Clutha, is an indication of the strength
of Rigney's will. The records of Rigney's mining career paint a picture of unflagging
determination, and of conflict, with both officials and associates. The unwillingness to
accept authority which led to his expulsion from a seminary in Ireland does not appear
to have diminished with age.

In 1869, after two years work and the expenditure of two thousand pounds, Rigney
and partners James Sullivan, Timothy Sheehy, John Kitto, William Kitto, David
Comack, James Bennet and another whose name is illegible on the records,
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completed a water race from the Minzion Burn to their claim at Horseshoe Bend. In
1874, after a court battle with one of the partners, Rigney and the others were forced
to sell out their shares in the claim, at a fire sale price. Rigney petitioned the Otago
Provincial Council, to review the decision in favour of the dissatisfied partner, and
questioning the integrity of the Goldfields Warden who had heard the case, "And
having no confidence in Warden Simpson's integrity the defendants [Rigney and
others] were compelled to submit [to the dissolution of partnership]." 33 [link to
Archives New Zealand document reference] It is very doubtful that such a judgement
of one of their officials endeared Rigney to the Provincial Council, or helped his case.

A reference to Rigney’s petition to the Council in the subsequent Tuapeka Times
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paints a somewhat different picture of Rigney’s grievances. [link to original record in
Papers Past]

In 1880 the Wardens Court in Roxburgh granted Rigney’s application for a water
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race – no other information on what this was for is known.

31 "The Otago Goldfields: Their Past History, Present Position and Future Prospects" Otago Daily Times. 1896
32 Otago Daily Times. 5.5.1869
33 Petition of William Rigney re Case Before Warden Simpson. Otago Provincial Council Papers. 1875, Archway Record; Archives New Zealand
34 Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 360, 30 May 1874, Page 3 Sourced from Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand
35 Tuapeka Times, Volume XIII, Issue 624, 17 April 1880, Page 3, sourced from Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand

© Jeff Robertson 28