Kauri gum#Gum-diggers

File:Kauri gum polished side.jpg

File:Kauri gum unpolished side.jpg

The Māori had many uses for the gum, which they called kapia. Fresh gum was used as a type of chewing gum (older gum was softened by soaking and mixing with juice of the puha thistle). Highly flammable, the gum was also used as a fire-starter, or bound in flax to act as a torch. Burnt and mixed with animal fat, it made a dark pigment for moko tattooing.Hayward, p 3 Kauri gum was also crafted into jewellery, keepsakes and small decorative items, like amber, kauri gum sometimes includes insects and plant material.{{cite web | title = Category: kauri | work = Collections Online | publisher = Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa | url = http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Term.aspx?irn=303011 | access-date = 18 July 2010}}

Kauri gum was used commercially in varnish, and can be considered a type of copal (the name given to resin used in such a way). Kauri gum was particularly useful for this and, from the mid-1840s, was exported to London and America. Tentative exports had begun a few years earlier, for use in marine glue and as fire-kindlers; gum was part of an export cargo to Australia in 1814.

Since kauri gum would mix more easily with linseed oil at lower temperatures, by the 1890s 70% of all oil varnishes made in England used kauri gum.Hayward, p 45 It was used to a limited extent in paints during the late 19th century, and from 1910 was used extensively in manufacturing linoleum. From the 1930s, the market for gum dropped as synthetic alternatives were found, but there remained niche uses for the gum in jewellery and specialist high-grade varnish for violins.

Kauri gum was Auckland's main export in the second half of the 19th century, sustaining much of the early growth of the city. Between 1850 and 1950, 450,000 tons of gum were exported.{{cite web|url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/TheBush/UsesOfTheBush/KauriGumAndGumDigging/4/en |title=Te Ara Encyclopedia of NZ: The Industry |publisher=Teara.govt.nz |date=2 March 2009 |access-date=25 April 2011}} The peak in the gum market was 1899, with 11,116 tons exported that year, with a value of £600,000 ($989,700 US).Hayward, p 46Dunmore, p 21 The average annual export was more than 5,000 tons, with the average price gained £63 ($103.91 US) per ton.Reed, p 114

The gum varied in colour depending on the condition of the original tree. It also depended on where the gum had formed and how long it had been buried. Colours ranged from chalky-white through red-brown to black. The most prized was pale gold, as it was hard and translucent.{{cite web|url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/K/KauriGum/KauriGum/en |title=Encyclopedia of NZ, 1966: Kauri Gum |publisher=Teara.govt.nz |date=22 April 2009 |access-date=25 April 2011}} The size of each lump also varied greatly. Swamps tended to yield the small nuggets known as "chips", whereas hillsides tended to produce larger lumps. The majority were the size of acorns, although some were found which weighed a few pounds. The largest (and rarest) were reported to weigh half a hundredweight (25.4kg, 56lbs).Reed, p 20 Kauri gum shares a few characteristics with amber, another fossilised resin found in the Northern Hemisphere. While amber can be millions of years old, carbon-dating suggests the age of most kauri gum is a few thousand years.{{cite web|author=Gilbert Mair, 1843–1923 |url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/TheBush/UsesOfTheBush/KauriGumAndGumDigging/1/en |title=Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand: Origins and uses |publisher=Teara.govt.nz |date=1 March 2009 |access-date=25 April 2011}}

File:North_Auckland_Kauri_Forest_Lantern_Slide_c1890_-_c1910_(17832403125).jpg-like setting]]

Most of the gumfields were in Northland, Coromandel and Auckland, the site of the original kauri forests. Initially, the gum was readily accessible, commonly found lying on the ground. Captain Cook reported the presence of resinous lumps on the beach at Mercury Bay, Coromandel, in 1769, although he suspected it came from the mangroves, and missionary Samuel Marsden spoke of their presence in Northland in 1819.

By 1850, most of the surface gum had been harvested, and people began digging for it. The hillsides yielded shallow-buried gum (about 1 m), but in swamps and beaches it was buried much deeper (4 m or below).

File:Dargaville gumdigger.jpg|alt=Stone statue of a middle aged-man with a beard, a shovel, and some other similar instrument]]

Gum-diggers were men and women who dug for kauri gum in the old kauri fields of New Zealand at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The term may be a source for the nickname "Digger" given to New Zealand soldiers in World War I.[http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/TheNewZealanders/7/en Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand: The New Zealanders] In 1898, a gum-digger described "the life of a gum-digger" as "wretched, and one of the last [occupations] a man would take to."recorded in Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1898, H–12, p. 31, and quoted in [http://www.teara.govt.nz/TheBush/UsesOfTheBush/KauriGumAndGumDigging/2/en Te Ara Encyclopedia of NZ]

Gum-diggers worked in the old kauri fields, most of which were then covered by swamp or scrub, digging for gum. Much of the population was transient, moving from field to field, and they lived in rough huts or tents (which were called "whares", after the Maori for 'house'). It was extremely hard work and not well paid, but it attracted many Maori and European settlers, including women and children.[http://www.teara.govt.nz/TheBush/UsesOfTheBush/KauriGumAndGumDigging/2/en Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand: Gumdigging] There were many Dalmatians, who had first come to work the South Island goldfields in the 1860s.[http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/Dalmatians/2/en Te Ara Encyclopedia of NZ: Damaltians] They were transient workers, rather than settlers, and much of their income was sent out of the country, resulting in resentment from the local workforce. In 1898, the "Kauri Gum Industry Act" was passed, which reserved gum-grounds for British subjects, and requiring all other diggers to be licensed. By 1910, only British subjects could hold gum-digging licences.[http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/Dalmatians/3/en Te Ara Encyclopedia of NZ: Dalmatians: Gumdiggers]

Gum-digging was the major source of income for settlers in North Auckland, and farmers often worked the gumfields in the winter months to subsidise the poor income from their unbroken land. By the 1890s, 20,000 people were engaged in gum-digging, of which 7000 worked full-time.Hayward, p 47 Gum-digging was not restricted to settlers or workers in the rural areas; Auckland families would cross the Waitematā Harbour by ferry at weekends to dig in the fields around Birkenhead, causing damage to public roads and private farms, and leading to local council management of the problem.McClure, p 55-6

Most gum was dug from the ground using gum-spears (pointed rods to probe for gum) and "skeltons", defined as blade-edged spades for cutting through old wood and roots as well as soil. Once the gum was retrieved it would need to be scraped and cleaned.[http://www.teara.govt.nz/TheBush/UsesOfTheBush/KauriGumAndGumDigging/3/en Te Are Encyclopedia of New Zealand: Gumdigging methods] Gum-diggers in the Auckland region had access to "gum sheds" with an open fireplace where the gum was dried and sorted into different qualities or grades. Clear, transparent gum called "specimen gum" would often be found and would be put aside for use in high quality ornaments and trinkets.{{Cite book |last=Bartlett |first=Jean |title=TAKAPUNA, People and Places |date=April 4, 1989 |publisher=Arrow Press Limited |isbn=0-473-00788-6 |pages=35–36 |language=English}}

Digging in swamps was more complicated. A longer spear (up to 8m) was often used, often fitted with a hooked end to scoop out the lumps. Scrub was often cleared first with fire; some became uncontrolled and swamp fires could burn for weeks.Hayward, pp 10–11 Holes were often dug by teams in both hills and swamps—often up to 12m deep—and some wetlands were drained to aid in the excavation of gum.Hayward, pp 12–13 As field gum became scarce, "bush gum" was obtained by purposely cutting the bark of kauri trees and returning months later to retrieve the hardened resin. Due to the damage caused to the trees by the cutting the practice was banned in state forests in 1905. Gum chips, small lumps useful for the manufacture of linoleum, were difficult to find. By 1910, the process of washing and sieving to retrieve the chips became common. The process was later mechanised.Hayward, p 27

Gumdiggers generally sold their gum to local gumbuyers, who transported it to Auckland (generally by sea) for sale to merchants and exporters.Hayward, p 19 There were six major export firms in Auckland who dealt in gum, employing several hundred workers who graded and rescraped the gum for export, packing them in cases made from kauri timber.Hayward, pp 42–43

As early as the 1830s and 1840s, merchants, including Gilbert Mair and Logan Campbell, were buying gum from local Māori for £5 ($8.25) a ton or trading it for goods. The majority of the gum was exported to America and London (from whence it was distributed throughout Europe), although smaller amounts were sent to Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Russia.Hayward, p 44

Group of gum diggers in gumfield (1908).jpg|Group of gum-diggers in gumfield (1908)|alt=Large group of men filling a picture of a mining field.

E. Mitchelson & Co. Gum sorters at work, 53228-a.jpg|Gum sorting at the E. Mitchelson & Co. kauri gum and grain facility on the Auckland waterfront (1906)|alt=Large line of men sorting gum resin, surrounded by baskets and loose piles of resin.

E. Mitchelson & Co. Rescraping kauri gum, 53227-a.jpg|Gum rescraping at the E. Mitchelson & Co. kauri gum and grain facility (1906)|alt=Four seated men holding large pieces of gum resin, scraping the outsides.

Gum climbers' camp on the Waipapa River, near Rangiahua, 1918 ATLIB 301546.png|A Gum climbers' camp near the Waipapa River in Northland|alt=Two men washing dishes in a basin in front of a shelter thatched with palm fronds.

• Kauri Museum
• Dammar gum
• Northland temperate kauri forests

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Hayward, Bruce W (1982). Kauri Gum and the Gumdiggers: A Pictorial History of the Kauri Gum Industry in New Zealand. Auckland: Lodestar Press. {{ISBN|0-86465-014-0}}
• McClure, Margaret (1987). The Story of Birkenhead. Auckland: Birkenhead City Council. {{ISBN|0-908704-04-6}}
• Reed, Alfred (1972). The Gumdiggers: The Story of Kauri Gum. Auckland: A.H. & A.W. Reed. {{ISBN|0-589-00732-7}}
• Dunmore, Patricia (ed.) (1977). The Dunmore Book of New Zealand Records. Wellington: Dunmore Press. {{ISBN|0-908564-08-2}}

{{commons category|Kauri gum}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071218235036/http://www.teara.govt.nz/TheBush/UsesOfTheBush/KauriGumAndGumDigging/en Te Ara, The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060821075830/http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-reference/gumdiggers.htm Digger History]
• [http://www.kauri-museum.com/ The Kauri Museum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215043945/http://www.kauri-museum.com/ |date=15 December 2007 }}

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Category:Fossil resins

Category:Economy of New Zealand

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