NINE-MILE BEACH
owing to the absence of tailings in the creek.
On 31st March, 1877, Warden Broad, in his report, stated: “Noticeably I would mention a large party of Shetlanders which, although some years ago it only numbered six, has now increased to some hundred.” In 1886 the number of Shetlanders at the beach was between seventy and eighty, and nearly all the claims were theirs. In 1906 there were but fifteen.
In January, 1882, two double-area claims on the beach, with water-race and all appliances, were sold for £1,000. The population at the beach was almost stationary for some years. On 1st February, 1900, a post office was opened there and called Rahui. It was closed on 30th April, 1921. The following were in charge of this office, but were not on the permanent staff of the department::—
| Mrs. C. Dennehy | " |
1st January, 1902
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| Mrs. L. J. Mouat | " |
13th February, 1904
|
| Mr. A. Thurlow | " |
16th October, 1908
|
| Mr. G. H. Mouat | " |
24th July, 1911
|
| Mrs. J. M. T. Powell | " |
31st May, 1918
|
At the end of 1907 the Education Department approved a grant to provide a building for a school at Rahui. It was opened in 1909 and closed in 1916. No list of teachers is available, but two names have been ascertained—Miss Teresa Boyle and Miss Eden. The old building still stands, but now serves the useful but humble purpose of a cowshed.
Although the Shetlanders were not the first to comb the beach, they were the first to do so systematically, discarding the inefficient appliances and substituting the now familiar barrow-tables on wheels, or “beach boxes” as they are termed. These were either “singles” or “three deckers”; namely, one long table, or made in three divisions. The old “rigs,” used before proper boxes were introduced, were merely small plate-tables carried to the work and there placed on trestles. This was too slow and cumbersome a method for Mouat, who soon conceived the idea of fixing the plates on a frame table, about 12 feet long and 3 feet wide, and putting the whole upon wheels.
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