Christopher Reilly (sometimes spelt Riley) was an Irish

gold prospector Gold prospecting is the act of searching for new gold deposits. Methods used vary with the type of deposit sought and the resources of the prospector. Although traditionally a commercial activity, in some developed countries placer gold prospe ...

who participated in the

Otago gold rush The Otago gold rush (often called the Central Otago gold rush) was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand. This was the country's biggest gold strike, and led to a rapid influx of foreign miners to the area � ...

in New Zealand in the 1860s. In 1862, Reilly discovered gold on the

Clutha River The Clutha River (, officially gazetted as Clutha River / ) is the second longest river in New Zealand and the longest in the South Island. It flows south-southeast through Central and South Otago from Lake Wānaka in the Southern Alps to the ...

with Horatio Hartley. The location was proclaimed as the Dunstan goldfield on 23 September 1862.

Early life

Christopher Reilly is thought to have been born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland, though this and many of the details of his early life remain vague and contradictory. Little has been recorded of his early life apart from the fact he may have attended the

University of Dublin The University of Dublin (), corporately named as The Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a research university located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dublin, whi ...

, later joining the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

to California in 1849. Here in the

Barbary Coast The Barbary Coast (also Barbary, Berbery, or Berber Coast) were the coastal regions of central and western North Africa, more specifically, the Maghreb and the Ottoman borderlands consisting of the regencies in Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, a ...

goldfields of California he would befriend Horatio Hartley, a

from

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

in the United States.

Gold rushes

Consistent with much of his early life, Reilly's life during the California gold rush is equally poorly recorded. What is known is that both Reilly and Hartley followed the gold rush from California to the

Victorian Goldfields The Goldfields region of Victoria is a region commonly used but typically defined in both historical geography and tourism geography (in particular heritage tourism). The region is also known as the Victorian Golden Triangle. Description ...

in Australia. Departing Victoria and travelling from

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, the pair arrived in New Zealand in 1862.

New Zealand

Like many Victorian miners, Hartley and Reilly congregated at the Tuapeka goldfield ( Lawrence) on the

(

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

: ''Mata-Au''), although it is likely their past experience in California and Victoria drove them to search for gold in

Central Otago Central Otago is an area located in the inland part of the Otago region in the South Island of New Zealand. The motto for the area is "A World of Difference". The area is dominated by mountain ranges and the upper reaches of the Clutha River ...

's poorly-explored interior. The winter of 1862 was exceptionally severe and resulted in unseasonably low-levels of the Clutha River. Hartley and Reilly worked the sides on the Cromwell Gorge for three months until they were forced to take the huge hoard of gold they had secretly amassed to the Chief Gold Receiver in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

in August 1862. Hartley and Reilly's discovery caused great excitement as they deposited some 87 lb (1,044 t oz) of gold, sparking a gold rush to what would become known as Hartley's Beach. Hartley and Reilly, in divulging the location of their rich finds (approximately one mile downstream of the confluence with the

Kawarau River The Kawarau River is a river in the South Island of New Zealand. It drains Lake Wakatipu in northwestern Otago via the lake's Frankton Arm. The river flows generally eastwards for about and passes through the steep Kawarau Gorge until it join ...

), were rewarded with £2000 from the Otago Provincial Government. On 23 September 1862 the Dunstan goldfield was proclaimed, the selection of this name in preference to Hartley's being largely in deference to Reilly, who was 'jealous of the pre-eminence' accorded Hartley as the discoverer. Neither Reilly or Hartley remained very long to participate in the fevered gold rush into Central Otago's interior. Reilly's imagination had been captured by the notion of a deep-sea harbour at

Port Molyneux Port Molyneux is a tiny settlement on the coast of South Otago, New Zealand, close to the north-easternmost point of The Catlins. Now home only to farmland, it was a thriving port in the early years of New Zealand's European settlement. The set ...

, at the mouth of the Clutha River, to serve the goldmining industry. Abandoning a claim in the Dunstan Goldfield in October 1862, he led an expedition of 18 men and two lifeboats to prove the Clutha River was "nature’s highway to the Dunstan". Reilly's testimony of his feat received wide praise, described as "not less meritorious than that of his discovery of the field – although it has received no recognition". Reilly later admitted the expedition proved that the Clutha was "wholly unnavigable". The venture cost Reilly on the order of £600 and he asked the Otago Provincial Council for compensation for leading the expedition. The Provincial Council eventually decided not to recommend any compensation, but by this time Reilly had left New Zealand for Australia. He was reported in

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

in January 1863, where the Government wished to secure the services of Reilly to find a payable gold field. With a handsome reward on offer, but the Government having no funds with which to engage Reilly, he declined this offer and took leave of Tasmania.

Later life

Reilly's movements after his brief period of fame in Central Otago become more uncertain from this point forward. He appeared in Nelson's ''Colonist'' newspaper on 31 January 1873 where he was reported to be back in

, having "done" both America and Australia. Reilly considered New Zealand to be: Reilly intended to give practical proof of this faith by starting on a prospecting tour. However, little mention is made of him after this. It is thought that he returned to his native Dublin and died there in 1887, although a conflicting account suggests he instead died a poor man in Australia.

Legacy

Their names synonymous with the discovery of gold in the Cromwell Gorge, it was perhaps inevitable that with the introduction of

gold dredge A gold dredge is a placer mining machine that extracts gold from sand, gravel, and dirt using water and mechanical methods. Original gold dredges were large, multi-story machines built in the first half of the 1900s. In modern times the term r ...

s on the Clutha River in the 1890s that one would carry the eponym of Hartley and Reilly. The Hartley and Reilly Dredge had mixed success; it was mining Hartley's Beach when a drunken dredge-hand let the ladder down out of control crashing through a hard pan into an underlying layer richer in gold than Hartley and Reilly's original discovery. In a single week the dredge recovered £5000 worth of gold. Unfortunately, the Hartley and Reilly dredging company went into liquidation in 1913, and the dredge was sold at auction. It sank in 1914. Horatio Hartley and Christopher Reilly are remembered on a plaque () in the Cromwell Gorge which was installed by the Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust. The plaque overlooks Hartley's Beach (now submerged beneath

Lake Dunstan Lake Dunstan is a man-made lake and reservoir in the Otago Region of the South Island of New Zealand. The lake was formed on the Clutha River as a result of the construction of the Clyde Dam, filling in four controlled stages beginning in Apr ...

) and reads:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reilly, Christopher 1887 deaths New Zealand gold prospectors Irish emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand people of Irish descent People of the Otago gold rush Year of birth missing