Artefacts and video footage of a sunken shipwreck missing for more than 110 years will be revealed today for the first time.
The SS Ventnor sank off the Hokianga Harbour in 1902 after being chartered to transport the remains of 499 Chinese who lost their lives gold mining, mostly in Otago.
While human remains and occasional debris washed up on Hokianga beaches, the location of the wreck had remained a mystery for more than a century.
After three years of searching, the Ventnor Group Project found the wreck 21km west of Hokianga Harbour, under 150 metres of water. Internationally respected expert and former president of the NZ Underwater Heritage Association, Keith Gordon, confirmed the find.
The first Chinese gold miners arrived in New Zealand in 1866. Three years later there were more than 2000, mostly migrants from an area near Guangzhou.
As the miners died, they were buried in New Zealand. However, their culture demands that their graves be tended by family members, so a decision was made to return the remains to China.
"Finding the SS Ventnor highlights the significant ties between China and New Zealand," says John Albert, chairman of the Ventnor group.
"It is important historically in terms of the early Chinese contribution to New Zealand and culturally in terms of the shared attitudes towards human remains," he says.
An invitation to pay respects to their pioneering countrymen has been extended to Chinese dignitaries, including President Xi Jinping.
The wreck has now been gazetted by Heritage NZ, meaning no more items may be removed from it without permission.
Wednesday 19 November 2014
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/revealed-sunken-112-year-old-gold-mining-wreck-499-bodies-aboard-6140106
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