BLACK AMERICANS AND TE AROHA MINING Philip Hart Te Aroha Mining District Working Papers No. 131 Revised on September 7, 2017 Historical Research Unit Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences The University of Waikato Private Bag 3105 Hamilton, New Zealand ISSN: 2463-6266 © 2016 Philip Hart Contact:
[email protected] 1 BLACK AMERICANS AND TE AROHA MINING Abstract: Although no black Americans lived in the Te Aroha district, several, including some miners, lived in Hauraki and elsewhere in New Zealand. In general, blacks were stereotyped as figures of fun (as were the Irish often), but those who were known personally were treated differently. Visiting black American singers were admired for their vocal skills, and some settled in the colony, notably Robert Bradford Williams, who became mayor of the Wellington borough of Onslow. This paper focuses on three very different men peripherally involved in mining in the Te Aroha district. About the first, Alexander Jackson, a carter, little is known apart from his marital problems. The second, William La Grenade Mitchell, was an Auckland accountant and land agent and was well respected, being a prominent Mason. He quickly lost this respect when forced to flee to Australia, whereupon his complicated financial and marital circumstances became public knowledge. About the third man, Edward Ralph Martin (who claimed an exotic ethnic background), a great deal is known because of his incessant efforts to raise money, including from the government, for his enthusiastic but incompetent prospecting. Calling himself a ‘professor’ of music, in his efforts to make money he was involved in several frauds, although there may have been an element of self-delusion about the prospecting skills claimed.