John Rochfort
John Rochfort ate his evening meal with great relish at the Star Hotel, Kihikihi. It was early March 1893 and the 60-year-old Government surveyor had come into the township a few days previously for fresh supplies. He was surveying a large block of land at the Mōkau and despite his age, was known as a man of great stamina.
Around 6pm John suddenly rose from the dinner table and went and sat down in the parlour on a couch leaning his head on one hand. Mrs Maunder, wife of the hotel keeper, let him be as she passed in and out of the room. Shortly before 7pm she returned to the parlour and noticed John had not moved his position at all. On approaching him she discovered him seemingly unconscious and called for her husband. The Maunders and others at the hotel tried to revive John but it was too late.
At the inquest, held in the Maunders’ Star Hotel, Constable Lowther handed the coroner a packet of white powder that had been found among John’s belongings, which, after tasting, was pronounced to be camphorated chalk, a harmless tooth cleaning powder. Dr Brewis testified that John showed signs of pleurisy and heart disease. His reported cause of death was excessive drinking.
This verdict was received with great consternation. John was an Englishman who trained in civil engineering under Isambard Brunel, one of engineering’s most innovative and productive identities. In the early 1850s John arrived in New Zealand and, among other achievements, discovered coal and gold in the Buller and Denniston areas of the South Island, laid out the town of Greymouth and surveyed the Remutaka and Buller Gorge railway lines.
He began investigating the proposed Main Trunk railway line from Te Awamutu to Marton in 1883. It was an immense job involving fighting his way through thick bush, crossing mountain ranges and meeting opposition from Māori. He endured severe hardships during his various explorations, but a heavy drinker he was not. An apology was issued – a printer’s mistake had been made in a newspaper office where another inquest verdict was accidentally added to John’s.
John Rochfort was universally respected, kind, honourable and upright in all his dealings. Casting such a slur upon his name was much regretted. John left a wife and grown-up family in Nelson. He was buried at Kihikihi cemetery, on a day of constant pouring rain.
John Rochfort’s discoveries were not as numerous as others, but not many surveyors ever exceeded his almost 30 year record in challenging and arduous field work.
