MICHAEL DINEEN O’KEEFFE: PRESIDENT OF THE THAMES MINERS’ UNION Philip Hart Te Aroha Mining District Working Papers No. 154 Revised on March 16, 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 MICHAEL DINEEN O’KEEFFE: PRESIDENT OF THE THAMES MINERS’ UNION Abstract: An Irishman, O’Keeffe remained very ‘Irish’ throughout his long life as a miner. Arriving in New Zealand in 1879, he moved to Te Aroha in 1881 and became one of the more prominent miners at Waiorongomai. Partly because of his wit and vibrant personality he was prominent in the community, and assisted efforts to aid mining and the district more generally. Financially he struggled, for instance being unable to develop a farm at Gordon and becoming bankrupt; whilst the latter was relatively common, he was most unusual in paying his creditors in full, an illustration of his high ethical standards. In the 1890s he mined at Thames and, despite his clearly limited education, studied at the Thames School of Mines to become a certificated mine manager. After being increasingly involved in the Thames Miners’ Union he became its president, and by forcefully standing up for the rights of his members became very prominent for his outspoken views and very popular with most of the members (though the more conservative members were upset by some of his behaviour). Controversially, he wanted the union involved in politics, and particularly controversial was his criticism of an arbitration court judge whose award went against the union. He struggled to satisfy the demands of the Waihi branch, which would later break away. During all this time he was prominent in the wider community. After ceasing to be involved in the union, he mined at Coromandel, Kuaotunu, Karangahake, and Marlborough, managing some mines, but struggling to make much money at any of these places. His financial situation required him to continue mining almost until his death at age 79. After being one of the most well known men in Hauraki, his final years were spent in obscurity. INTRODUCTORY NOTE Michael Dineen O’Keeffe’s1 full name was Michael William Dineen O’Keeffe.2 During the 1880s he wrote his name as Michael W. Dineen 1 For his photograph, see New Zealand Graphic, 23 June 1900, p. 1180. 2 Supreme Court, Bankruptcy Register 1887-1892, p. 278, BBAE 5639/1a, ANZ-A; Thames Electoral Roll, 1902, p. 61. 2 O’Keeffe, and by the 1890s the W. was usually omitted.3 His multiplicity of first names led to his being once referred to as ‘Alphabet O’Keeffe’.4 Accurate spelling was not one of his strengths, and often others wrote his surname as ‘O’Keefe’; for consistency, it is given as O’Keeffe throughout this paper. Prominent in many ways, especially for his quirky ways of expressing himself, he was one of the most notable ‘characters’ on several goldfields. BEFORE WAIORONGOMAI O’Keeffe was born in 1852 either at Mitcheltown or Blackrock, County Cork, Ireland.5 His father, John, was a farmer, and his mother was Margaret, née Dineen.6 According to his account, ‘he was brought up to foundry work in the city of Cork’, where he learnt an unspecified trade related to that industry.7 Afterwards he worked for ‘three years in Liverpool. In 1879 he came to Auckland by the ship “Earl Granville,” and worked for some time in Northern Wairoa’.8 It left Plymouth on 29 November 1879, and arrived at Auckland on 4 March 1880. An assisted immigrant, he was recorded as Michael O’Keefe, born in Cork, which was correct, aged 25, an incorrect age, and an agricultural labourer,9 which was possible, and may have been his occupation in Northern Wairoa. In 1897, he stated that he had been a coal miner for some time;10 if he did mine for coal when first in New Zealand, it was not in Northern Wairoa, for the meagre 3 For example, Te Aroha Warden’s Court, Miners’ Rights Butt Book 1880-1881, no. 1691, BBAV 11533/1g; Miners’ Rights Butt Book 1883, no. 2043, BBAV 11533/1l, ANZ-A; letter from M.D. O’Keeffe, Thames Advertiser, 6 September 1898, p. 1. 4 ‘Te Aroha’, Observer, 3 November 1883, p. 16. 5 Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 2, p. 473; Marriage Certificate of Michael O’Keefe, 31 October 1884, 1884/1749; Death Certificate of Michael Dineen O’Keeffe, 14 May 1931, 1931/3999, BDM. 6 Marriage Certificate of Michael O’Keefe, 31 October 1884, 1884/1749, BDM. 7 Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 2, p. 473; Thames Star, 11 May 1901, p. 3. 8 Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 2, p. 473. 9 Passenger list of ‘Earl Granville’, arrived in Auckland on 4 March 1880, Microfilm 287460, folio 17, Mormon Archives; Assisted Immigrants to Auckland, Social Security, SS Im., 15/373, Immigration, IM 5/4/33, no. 399, ANZ-W. 10 M.W.D. O’Keeffe to Secretary, Board of Examiners, 12 January 1897, Mines Department, MD 1, 97/239, ANZ-W. 3 coal deposits there were never developed.11 In May 1901 he stated that he had been a miner for 21 years and in October wrote that it had been 22 years,12 meaning that he had mined for either coal or gold before Te Aroha was proclaimed in November 1880. In January 1897 he stated that he had spent 26 years mining coal and both alluvial and quartz gold,13 which would date the start of his mining career as 1871, when he was 19 years old. Any involvement in alluvial mining before 1897 was of extremely brief duration, for there were no alluvial fields in the North Island and he did not work in the South Island until the twentieth century. On 9 December 1880, after pleading guilty in the Thames court to an offense under the Shipping and Seamen Act 1877, he was required to pay damage of 10s.14 His offense was breaking a table on the ‘Rotomahana’, which plied between Thames and Auckland, by dancing on it. The prosecuting policeman ‘said he was a splendid dancer, and suggested that he should give the Court a specimen of his performance in the Terpsichorean Art’, a frivolous suggestion not taken up by the magistrate;15 clearly his behaviour was viewed with more amusement than concern. A Thames gossip writer quoted O’Keeffe as claiming that he could ‘dance forty variations to one tune’ and ‘had been performing for the benefit of passengers’.16 O’Keeffe claimed to be present at the opening of the Te Aroha goldfield,17 but the earliest miner’s right recorded in the surviving butt books was dated 6 January 1881.18 His involvement in this rush was minimal: on the same day that he took out this right, he purchased another 11 John Stallworthy, Early Northern Wairoa (Dargaville, 1916), pp. 140-141. 12 Thames Star, 10 May 1901, p. 2; M.W.D. O’Keeffe to Minister of Mines, 19 October 1901, Mines Department, MD 1, 06/458, ANZ-W. 13 M.W.D. O’Keeffe to Secretary, Board of Examiners, 12 January 1897, Mines Department, MD 1, 97/239, ANZ-W. 14 Thames Magistrate’s Court, Criminal Record Book 1879-1881, entry for 9 December 1880, BACL 13736/15b, ANZ-A. 15 Thames Advertiser, 10 December 1880, p. 2. 16 ‘Thames Jottings’, Observer, 8 January 1881, p. 162. 17 Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 2, p. 473. 18 Te Aroha Warden’s Court, Miners’ Rights Butt Book 1880-1881, no. 1691, BBAV 11533/1g, ANZ-A. 4 man’s interests in one claim, and three months later bought a small interest in another.19 MINING AT WAIORONGOMAI In December 1881, he acquired his first interests in the new Waiorongomai goldfield, holding one and a half of the initial 15 shares in the May Queen; he sold all these by June 1883 for £30.20 In May 1882 he bought 200 scrip shares in the Hero Company.21 One month later, he purchased a quarter of one share in the Coquette for £10, which three months later became 250 scrip shares in the Coquette Company,22 an unprofitable investment unless he was able to unload his shares. He was the sole owner of another claim, named the Star of Erin, probably because of his Irish parentage, but abandoned it after 15 days; his letter to the warden indicated that he, like many miners, was imperfectly literate: Sir, I the below Sined do Hearby Give notice of abondement of the Star of Erin Clame I have the Honor Sir of being truly MWDO’Keeffe23 He worked for an Auckland investor, John Abbott,24 in an unspecified claim in the latter part of the year, successfully sueing him for wages 19 Te Aroha Warden’s Court, Register of Te Aroha Claims 1880-1888, folios 155, 202, BBAV 11567/1a, ANZ-A. 20 Te Aroha Warden’s Court, Register of Licensed Holdings 1881-1887, folio 28, BBAV 11500/9a; Transfers and Assignments 1882, nos. 46, 47, BBAV 11581/1a; Certified Instruments 1883, nos. 217, 249, BBAV 11581/4a, ANZ-A. 21 New Zealand Gazette, 1 June 1882, p. 800. 22 Te Aroha Warden’s Court, Register of Licensed Holdings 1881-1887, folio 8, BBAV 11500/9a; Transfers and Assignments 1882, no. 588, BBAV 11581/2a, ANZ-A; New Zealand Gazette, 16 November 1882, p. 1733. 23 M.W.D. O’Keeffe to Warden, 9 September 1882, attached to Notice of Marking Out Claims, Te Aroha Warden’s Court, Notices of Marking Out Claims 1882, no.