Every month I write a local heritage-themed column, on behalf of The Treasury, for the Grahamstown Gazette. Here's my piece for the March edition.
‘A Momentous Year:’ Thames’
Golden Jubilee, Part 1. An important meeting took place at St James' Hall
in Grahamstown in April 1916. Prompted by a letter to the mayor asking what was
being done to celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Thames goldfields,
the meeting was called to form a jubilee celebration committee. The anniversary
itself was not until August 1917, so there was plenty of time to prepare - an
exciting bright spot on the horizon for a country otherwise consumed by a world
war. Thames was not, by 1916, the economic powerhouse it had once been, but its
influence on the growth of Auckland made the jubilee nationally significant.
News of the upcoming celebration quickly filtered through the nation's
newspapers. The Auckland branch of the Old Thames Boys' Association quickly sprang
into action, launching a letter-writing campaign to track down Thames pioneers
now scattered across the world. The Old Thames Boys were an enthusiastic lot,
enticing their fellow Aucklanders to the Coromandel with plans for a week-long
jubilee carnival. 'But who will pay for it?' asked Thames' locals. Unimpressed
letters to the editor of the Thames Star pointed out that 'the greatest war on
earth is now in progress,' and Thames' inhabitants had already been hit in the
pocket by wartime grocery prices and liberal donations to the patriotic fund.
'We, the British nation, have nothing to celebrate over,' wrote one
correspondent. 'I fail to see how we can conscientiously invite our old
associates of the early days of the field [to the jubilee festivities]... while
at present I know of a great many who have their sons away fighting our cause,'
wrote another. The jubilee committee enthusiastically continued its planning, despite
concerns over costs and appropriateness. The next committee meeting proposed a
'jubilee celebration second to none yet witnessed in the Dominion,' including a
mining and industrial exhibition, a ten-day carnival, a regatta, All Nations
tug-of-war, Caledonian sports and fire brigade competitions. By early 1917,
however, reality had dawned; these plans for the jubilee had been condensed
into a four-day carnival to be held in Thames in summer, the February after the
anniversary date. Meanwhile, the Old Thames Boys' Association planned a Thames
pioneers' reunion at the Auckland Town Hall in August. In May, however, it seems the committee's initial enthusiasm was
beginning to wane. Two separate letters to the editor pointed out that the
jubilee was a little over eight weeks away, and the general public was none the
wiser on what exactly was being planned. 'The talk of ten days of jollification
and revelry seems to have died a natural death, but that is no reason why something
befitting the occasion should not be arranged for August 1st,' wrote one
person. At the next committee meeting, it was decided to hold a series of small
events in Thames on August 1st, to complement the Old Boys’ event in Auckland
and advertise the summer’s bigger celebrations. With mere weeks to go, August 1st
was declared a public holiday and an array of church services, dinners and
concerts were hastily thrown together to mark the date of the goldfield’s
proclamation. But would these plans come together?
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