![kauri gum carving](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Kauri_gum_carving.jpg)
Kauri gum is
resin
In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on natu ...
from kauri trees (''
Agathis australis
''Agathis australis'', commonly known by its Māori name kauri (), is a coniferous tree in the family ''Araucariaceae'', found north of 38°S in the northern regions of New Zealand's North Island.
It is the largest (by volume) but not t ...
''), which historically had several important industrial uses. It can also be used to make crafts such as jewellery. Kauri forests once covered much of the
North Island
The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...
of New Zealand, before the arrival of people caused
deforestation
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...
, causing several areas to revert to
sand dunes
A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...
,
scrubs
Scrub(s) may refer to:
* Scrub, low shrub and grass characteristic of scrubland
* Scrubs (clothing), worn by medical staff
* ''Scrubs'' (TV series), an American television program
* Scrubs (occupation), also called "scrub tech," "scrub nurse," o ...
, and
swamps
A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...
. Even afterwards, ancient kauri fields continued to provide a source for the gum and the remaining forests.
[Hayward, pp 4–5]
Kauri gum forms when resin from kauri trees leaks out through fractures or cracks in the bark, hardening with the exposure to air. Lumps commonly fall to the ground and can be covered with soil and forest litter, eventually
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
ising. Other lumps form as branches forked or trees are damaged, releasing the resin.
[Hayward, p 2]
Uses
![Kauri gum unpolished side](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Kauri_gum_unpolished_side.jpg)
The
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
had many uses for the gum, which they called ''kapia''. Fresh gum was used as a type of
chewing gum
Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed. Modern chewing gum is composed of gum base, sweeteners, softeners/plasticizers, flavors, colors, and, typically, a hard or powdered polyol coating. Its te ...
(older gum was softened by soaking and mixing with juice of the
puha thistle
''Sonchus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae and are commonly known as sow thistles (less commonly hare thistles or hare lettuces). Sowthistles are annual, biennial or perennial herbs, with or w ...
). Highly flammable, the gum was also used as a
fire-starter, or bound in
flax
Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...
to act as a torch. Burnt and mixed with animal fat, it made a dark pigment for ''
moko
In the mythology of Mangaia in the Cook Islands, Moko is a wily character and grandfather of the heroic Ngaru.
Moko is a ruler or king of the lizards, and he orders his lizard subjects to climb into the basket of the sky demon Amai-te-rangi Acco ...
'' tattooing. Kauri gum was also crafted into jewellery, keepsakes, and small decorative items. Like
amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...
, kauri gum sometimes includes insects and plant material.
Kauri gum was used commercially in
varnish
Varnish is a clear transparent hard protective coating or film. It is not a stain. It usually has a yellowish shade from the manufacturing process and materials used, but it may also be pigmented as desired, and is sold commercially in various ...
, and can be considered a type of
copal
Copal is tree resin, particularly the aromatic resins from the copal tree ''Protium copal'' (Burseraceae) used by the cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica as ceremonially burned incense and for other purposes. More generally, copal includes re ...
(the name given to resin used in such a way). Kauri gum was found to be particularly good for this, and from the mid-1840s was exported to London and America. Tentative exports had begun a few years earlier, however, for use in marine glue and as fire-kindlers;
gum had even made up part of an export cargo to Australia in 1814.
Since the kauri gum was found to mix more easily with
linseed oil
Linseed oil, also known as flaxseed oil or flax oil (in its edible form), is a colourless to yellowish oil obtained from the dried, ripened seeds of the flax plant (''Linum usitatissimum''). The oil is obtained by pressing, sometimes followed by ...
, at lower temperatures, than other resins, by the 1890s, 70 percent of all oil varnishes made in England used kauri gum.
[Hayward, p 45] It was used to a limited extent in paints during the late 19th century, and from 1910 was used extensively in the manufacture of
linoleum
Linoleum, sometimes shortened to lino, is a floor covering made from materials such as solidified linseed oil (linoxyn), Pine Resin, pine resin, ground Cork (material), cork dust, sawdust, and mineral fillers such as calcium carbonate, most com ...
. From the 1930s, the market for gum dropped as synthetic alternatives were found, but there remained niche uses for the gum in jewellery and specialist high-grade varnish for
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
s.
Kauri gum was
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
's main export in the second half of the 19th century, sustaining much of the early growth of the city. Between 1850 and 1950, 450,000 tons of gum were exported.
The peak in the gum market was 1899, with 11,116 tons exported that year, with a value of
£600,000 (
$989,700 US).
[Hayward, p 46] The average annual export was over 5,000 tons, with the average price gained £63 ($103.91 US) per ton.
Appearance
The gum varied in color depending on the condition of the original tree. It also depended on where the gum had formed and how long it had been buried. Colors ranged from chalky-white, through red-brown to black; the most prized was a pale gold, as it was hard and translucent.
The size of each lump also varied greatly. Swamps tended to yield the small nuggets known as "chips", whereas the hillsides tended to produce larger lumps. The majority were the size of acorns, although some were found which weighed a few
pounds; the largest (and rarest) were reported to weigh half a
hundredweight
The hundredweight (abbreviation: cwt), formerly also known as the centum weight or quintal, is a British imperial and US customary unit of weight or mass. Its value differs between the US and British imperial systems. The two values are distingu ...
. Kauri gum shares a few characteristics with
amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...
, another fossilised resin found in the
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...
, but where amber can be dated as millions of years old,
carbon-dating
Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon.
The method was dev ...
suggests the age of most kauri gum is a few thousand years.
Gumfields
![Kauri at Waipoua Forest](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Kauri_at_Waipoua_Forest.jpg)
Most of the gumfields were in
Northland,
Coromandel
Coromandel may refer to:
Places India
*Coromandel Coast, India
**Presidency of Coromandel and Bengal Settlements
** Dutch Coromandel
*Coromandel, KGF, Karnataka, India
New Zealand
*Coromandel, New Zealand, a town on the Coromandel Peninsula
*Coro ...
and
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
, the site of the original kauri forests. Initially, the gum was readily accessible, commonly found lying on the ground.
Captain Cook
James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...
reported the presence of resinous lumps on the beach at
Mercury Bay
Mercury Bay is a large V-shaped bay on the eastern coast of the Coromandel Peninsula on the North Island of New Zealand. It was named by the English navigator Captain James Cook during his exploratory expeditions. It was first named ''Te-Whangan ...
, Coromandel, in 1769, although he suspected it came from the
mangrove
A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...
s, and missionary
Samuel Marsden
Samuel Marsden (25 June 1765 – 12 May 1838) was an English-born priest of the Church of England in Australia and a prominent member of the Church Missionary Society, believed to have introduced Christianity to New Zealand. Marsden was a prom ...
spoke of their presence in Northland in 1819.
By 1850, most of the surface-lying gum had been picked up, and people began digging for it. The hillsides yielded shallow-buried gum (about 1 m), but in the swamps and beaches, it was buried much further down (4 m or below).
Gum-diggers
![Dargaville gumdigger](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Dargaville_gumdigger.jpg)
Gum-diggers were men and women who dug for
kauri
''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of 22 species of evergreen tree. The genus is part of the ancient conifer family Araucariaceae, a group once widespread during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, but now largely res ...
gum, a
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
ised
resin
In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on natu ...
, in the old kauri fields of New Zealand at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The gum was used mainly for
varnish
Varnish is a clear transparent hard protective coating or film. It is not a stain. It usually has a yellowish shade from the manufacturing process and materials used, but it may also be pigmented as desired, and is sold commercially in various ...
. The term may be a source for the nickname "
Digger" given to New Zealand soldiers in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. In 1898, a gum-digger described "the life of a gum-digger" as "wretched, and one of the last
ccupationsa man would take to."
Gum-diggers worked in the old kauri fields, most of which were then covered by swamp or scrub, digging for the gum. Much of the population was transient, moving from field to field, and they lived in rough huts or tents (which were called "
whare
A wharenui (; literally "large house") is a communal house of the Māori people of New Zealand, generally situated as the focal point of a ''marae''. Wharenui are usually called meeting houses in New Zealand English, or simply called ''whare'' ( ...
s", after the Maori for 'house'). It was extremely hard work and not very well paid, but it attracted many Maori and European settlers, including women and children.
[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand: Gumdigging](_blank)
/ref> There were many Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
ns, who had first come to work the South Island goldfields in the 1860s. They were transient workers, rather than settlers, and much of their income was sent out of the country, resulting in much resentment from the local workforce. In 1898, the "Kauri Gum Industry Act" was passed, which reserved gum-grounds for British subjects
The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...
, and requiring all other diggers to be licensed. By 1910, only British subjects could hold gum-digging licences.
Gum-digging was the major source of income for settlers in Northland, and farmers often worked the gumfields in the winter months to subsidise the poor income from their unbroken land. By the 1890s, 20,000 people were engaged in gum-digging, of which 7000 worked full-time.[Hayward, p 47] Gum-digging was not restricted to settlers or workers in the rural areas; Auckland families would cross the Waitematā Harbour
Waitematā Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. For this reason it is often referred to as Auckland Harbour, despite the fact that it is one of two harbours adjoining the city. The harbour forms the northern and easter ...
by ferry at weekends to dig in the fields around Birkenhead
Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...
, causing damage to public roads and private farms, and leading to local council management of the problem.
Methods
Most gum was dug from the ground using gum-spears (pointed rods to probe for gum) and "skeltons", defined as blade-edged spades for cutting through old wood and roots as well as soil. Once the gum was retrieved it would need to be scraped and cleaned.[Te Are Encyclopedia of New Zealand: Gumdigging methods](_blank)
/ref>
Digging in swamps was more complicated; a longer spear (up to 8m) was often used, often fitted with a hooked end to scoop out the lumps. Scrub was often cleared first with fire; some got out of control and swamp fires could burn for weeks. Holes were often dug by teams in both hills and swamps—often up to 12m deep—and some wetlands were drained to aid in the excavation of gum. As field gum became scarce, "bush gum" was obtained by purposely cutting the bark of kauri trees and returning months later to retrieve the hardened resin. Due to the damage caused to the trees by the cutting the practice was banned in state forests in 1905. Gum chips, small lumps useful for the manufacture of linoleum, were difficult to find, and by 1910, the process of washing and sieving to retrieve the chips became common. The process was later mechanised.
Gum merchants
Gumdiggers generally sold their gum to local gumbuyers, who transported it to Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
(generally by sea) for sale to merchants and exporters. There were six major export firms in Auckland who dealt in gum, employing several hundred workers who graded and rescraped the gum for export, packing them in cases made from kauri timber.
As early as the 1830s and 1840s, merchants, including Gilbert Mair and Logan Campbell, were buying gum from local Māori for £5 ($8.25) a ton, or trading it for goods. The majority of the gum was exported to America and London (from whence it was distributed throughout Europe), although smaller amounts were sent to Australia, Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
, Japan and Russia.[Hayward, p 44]
See also
* Kauri Museum
The Kauri Museum is in the west coast village of Matakohe, Northland, New Zealand.
The museum, to the south of the Waipoua Forest, contains many exhibits that tell the story of the pioneering days when early European settlers in the area extract ...
* Dammar gum
Dammar, also called dammar gum, or damar gum, is a resin obtained from the tree family Dipterocarpaceae in India and Southeast Asia, principally those of the genera ''Shorea'' or ''Hopea'' (synonym ''Balanocarpus''). The resin of some species of ...
* Northland temperate kauri forests
The Northland temperate kauri forests is an ecoregion in northern New Zealand, within the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome.
Location and description
This ecoregion covers the northern end of North Island. The landscape is flat when ...
Notes
References
* Hayward, Bruce W (1982). ''Kauri Gum and the Gumdiggers: A Pictorial History of the Kauri Gum Industry in New Zealand''. Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
: Lodestar Press.
* McClure, Margaret (1987). ''The Story of Birkenhead''. Auckland: Birkenhead City Council.
* Reed, Alfred (1972). ''The Gumdiggers: The Story of Kauri Gum''. Auckland: A.H. & A.W. Reed.
* Dunmore, Patricia (ed.) (1977). ''The Dunmore Book of New Zealand Records''. Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
: Dunmore Press.
External links
Te Ara, The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
The Kauri Museum
{{Non-timber forest products
Fossil resins
Economy of New Zealand
Organic gemstones
*
New Zealand culture