Draining a swamp

Draining a swamp

As the gumfields became depleted, the diggers turned to swamps for kauri gum. Digging ‘on the face’, this gang at Ōmāmari, north of Dargaville, is cutting a 10-metre-deep drain. Once a swamp was drained they would move in with spades and probes. The fact that they worked in large gangs drew resentment from the more solitary British diggers.