PART 1 - Gillespie's Beach
Our story begins at Gillespie’s Beach, situated approximately 20 kilometres west of what is today Fox Glacier township, formerly known as Weheka. The name was changed in 1944 but children of my generation knew that Grandmother Julia Williams lived at Weheka. I note a lengthy article in the Grey River Argus on 16th June, 1908, by a Mr H.S. Roberts of Oamaru, lamenting the careless use of the Maori place names in South Westland by its inhabitants. According to him Gillespie’s was previously known as Kaohaihi Point and We-heka was the Maori name for Cook’s Bluff. Many Maori names, probably difficult to pronounce by the early settlers, were converted to easier words, particularly rivers and creeks. The Haeremare stream was called Hairy-Mary. The Waikukupa river became Wai-cuppy-cup. Mahitahi was pronounced My-tie and Ohinetamatea fondly called the Saltwater.
In the gold-seeking years which saw the genesis of the New Zealand branches of the Sullivan and Williams families, Gillespie‘s Beach was an isolated and hostile environment. It was described by the Okarito Gold Warden in 1872 as a beach about two and a half miles (about four kilometres) in length with a lagoon at the rear of it. Not a great deal has changed. The Gillespie‘s road passes through forest now part of the Westland National Park linking it to an inland area which, because of its scenic alpine views and glacier, has become a popular tourist resort.
Visit the Beach today and you will see only a handful of dwellings, mainly because the original settlers failed to freehold the small area of land on which their cottages were built. Today, the Department of Conservation protects the area. Of interest is the recently renovated small cemetery and the relics of the second gold dredge. This second dredge, in later decades, was tested for uranium when significant levels were found in the sand concentrates but on testing proved to be too low to be of economic value.
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