Undoubtedly the Ryans gradually acquired their considerable land holdings financed with money from the hotel they owned at Gillespie’s. Laurence Sullivan’s gold-mining initially financed his land acquisition and Henry Williams, the teacher, initially bank-rolled his brother, Fred, although purchases were made in his own name. How much land land was acquired under the Homestead Settlement scheme by local families is unknown, and of course government policy could change abruptly.
However, these early settlers, namely Lawrence Sullivan Jnr, his brother Patrick Sullivan, Fred Williams, Patrick Carroll, the Walsh brothers, and Edward Ryan among others, were obviously very satisfied with government treatment relating to land settlement. The West Coast Times on 14.1.1902 contained a testimonial forwarded to Mr Murray, Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands jointly signed by them all on the eve of his departure for Nelson, expressing the high estimation in which he was held by them.
In later decades Gillespie’s Beach became synonymous with the names of the two Bagley brothers and later again the Shaw brothers, Mark and John, who made their home there and continued to work the black sands. These latter two had considerable mining experience, both on the opal fields in Australia, and bauxite mining in the Otago area. During their sojourn at Gillespie’s they became well-known identities in the district as had the Bagley brothers before them. Those of us who knew the Shaw brothers well or merely visited them in their small home close to the beach, remember tall stories being told amid numerous cups of tea, while samples from their mining days were handed around. With their passing, the beach lost two remarkable identities who did their mining in remote areas using shovel, sweat and good old-fashioned ingenuity.
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