WILLIAM SHARMAN CRAWFORD (BILLY) NICHOLL, THE PROSPECTOR WHO DISCOVERED THE MARTHA LODE AT WAIHI: HIS LIFE, TOLD LARGELY IN HIS OWN WORDS Philip Hart Te Aroha Mining District Working Papers No. 57 2016 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 WILLIAM SHARMAN CRAWFORD (BILLY) NICHOLL, THE PROSPECTOR WHO DISCOVERED THE MARTHA LODE AT WAIHI: HIS LIFE, TOLD LARGELY IN HIS OWN WORDS Abstract: Billy Nicholl was that rare miner, one who recorded his life. Born in Ireland, when still a boy he arrived in New Zealand in 1862. After his father died at an early age, he acquired a step-father, whom he disliked, with good reason; and in her later years his mother’s mind would fade. From 1868, when he was probably aged 14, until shortly before his death, he was a prospector and miner. Excited by the early Thames mining days, he learnt the skills needed to be a successful prospector, and during the 1870s worked with several mates on the Coromandel field, with some success. After briefly participating in the Te Aroha rush of 1880, he saw from the summit of that mountain the outcrops of the Waihi reefs, and turned his attention to that largely unexplored area. Although there was considerable claim and counter-claim about who first explored the area and who first found gold, Nicholl was the first to discover a payable lode, the famous Martha. After telling his mates of his discovery, they marked out the line of reef and started to develop several claims.