Photoprint for Sale: Goldminers' Hut, Ross, Westland, New Zealand

This is an original photoprint from my personal collection

Size of image is 30cm x 46cm (12" x 18").

Price is $NZ 50.00 inc. urban p. and p. in NZ.

Please contact me at donovan@ihug.co.nz or 09 4159 701.

© DON DONOVAN. donovan@ihug.co.nz 
www. don-donovan.blogspot.co.nz
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New Zealand Odyssey: Hokitika's Free Public Library

'New Zealand Odyssey', published in 1989 by Heinemann, was authored by me, Don Donovan (who did the text and illustrations) and Euan Sarginson, who did the photography and design. In this series of blog posts, I will publish some of my drawings

In the late 1980s the Hokitika Free Library was on its last legs but I understand that a 'heritage' group of angels saved it from oblivion and that it's now used for community events. 

It is a 'Carnegie' library, largely paid for by a Scots/American philanthropist who believed that anybody who could read should have ready access to books. These libraries exist in other parts of New Zealand and the rest of the world.

Hokitika's Free Library was opened in 1908 and I'm sure, was responsible for educating gold miners in their off hours - or at least entertaining them as an alternative to the scores of pubs that dotted the town in those days.

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz

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New Zealand Odyssey: Two Historic Buildings at Okarito, Westland

'New Zealand Odyssey', published in 1989 by Heinemann, was authored by me, Don Donovan (who did the text and illustrations) and Euan Sarginson, who did the photography and design. In this series of blog posts, I will publish some of my drawings.

Okarito and its lagoon are west of the main highway that runs from Haast to Greymouth. Its first claim to fame was as a destination for gold-hungry prospectors in the 19th century but now it is visited because it's the home of white herons (egrets) whose Maori name is Kotuku.

Two old buildings caught my eye in the late 1980s: Donovan's Store (no relation to me) and the local youth hostel.

Donovan's was obviously much older than the YHA house and was probably set up to sell everything imaginable to the gold miners. I don't know when it closed down but Coca-Cola, which, I think, only started distribution in New Zealand in the 1960s managed to get its name up so the shop lasted at least until then.

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz

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New Zealand Odyssey: Stone Hut, Shingle Creek, Central Otago

'New Zealand Odyssey', published in 1989 by Heinemann, was authored by me, Don Donovan (who did the text and illustrations) and Euan Sarginson, who did the photography and design. In this series of blog posts, I will publish some of my drawings.

 There's nothing particularly special about this illustration of an abandoned stone hut in Central Otago but it's one of my favourites. The thing is: I did it in no time at all - just a few minutes - but it came out just right and the soft wash behind the building showed the rising mist perfectly. The reckless landscape in this area is dotted with remains like this. They mostly date back to gold mining days of the nineteenth century and, while re-roofed by local farmers, their walls and chimneys are as everlasting as stone can ever be.

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz

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Schist Outcrops: Dansey Pass

Most of the romance has been removed from the roads of New Zealand so that tourism may be more comfortable, easier. Roads that were once serpentine and shingle-surfaced are now straighter and macadamized; the traffic travels faster, the roadside histories are passed by, the grandeur is now seen in broad sweeps with detail left unconsidered.

But Dansey Pass, once a miners’ route from north Otago into the gold fields of the Maniototo and Central Otago, remains narrow, winding, rough and romantic. It runs from the Kyeburn Diggings to the south bank of the Waikato River and if you care to stop at one of the few off-road refuges and switch off the engine and then listen to the sweet nothings that come on the air from the stream below and whispering tussock grasses your eyes will start to distinguish slow moving sheep who, like the remains of miner’s stone huts, are the same colour as the landscape: sometimes, grey, perhaps pink, often amber.

The rock is mainly schist; speckled pancakes perfect for building huts and fences where one layer may be snuggled above another without mortar – like giant flaky pastry. In an otherwise hostile surround the rock was often home and shelter to the miners.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
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