Hunt and his duffer rush
Press, 9 July 1973
Out of the rich and roaring past of the West Coast Tomes the fabulous story of 'Hunt’s Duffer” on CHTV3 this evening.
This is the title of the N.Z.B.C.’s dramatised Documentary about the great gold trek which ended in despair and confusion.
In the 1860 s more than 1000 gold diggers were led on a wild goose chase to the remote Bruce Bay area of the West Coast by a man called Albert Hunt.
It has never been established whether Hunt was acting in good faith or from malice, although at the time many thought that he was suffering from the poor reward he received from the provincial government for his major gold discovery at Greenstone.
This documentary looks at the hardships and disillusionment faced by the diggers as a result of this "duffer rush.”
For three days the coast came alive again with bearded miners, the rattle of gold pans, and the tramp of the diggers’ feet as location filming was carried out.
Altogether about 190 people were used, with Ron Burt taking the part of Hunt, and Kevin Woodill, John Batstone and Tony Currie featuring in other prominent parts.
Location filming was carried out on the Coast on the beaches north of Greymouth, at the Little Waitahi River, and in a bush setting further south, where a rough camp had been set up.
The remainder of the programme was filmed at sites around Wellington with a prefabricated mining village that was built at tile Avalon workshop.
So skilfully have the scenes been blended that the producer, Peter Coates, thinks that to figure out which parts are actually the Coast and which are not, will be almost impossible.
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