DescriptionEnglishman Frederick Hill immigrated arrived in Port Chalmers about 16 October 1861 and took up Miner's Right #5060 in the Tuapeka goldfields.
On 8 January 1877, Frederick married Sarah Ann Wilson. The couple had eight children together. It is said, after the birth of their last child Fred was kicked out of the house and sent to live in the garden shed at the bottom of the garden as a form of birth control.
Mining could be a tough business and for a while after marriage the couple lived off money sent over from England. By aged 60, the toll of a mining occupation had resulted in Frederick being incapable of working. With a wife and eight children still dependent on him, and no worldly goods or possessions in which to sell or exchange, Frederick and other family members entered a stage of semi-starvation. The local Benevolent Trustees eventually came to the family's assistance granting a 10 pound allowance per week.
Frederick died at Gore on 1 November 1911.
This information comes from page 146 of David Still's 'Gold Beneath Dark Waters | The People of Waipori.'Date1900-1911RightsThis item is out of copyright. ContributorWaipori Goldfields Charitable Trust
