Frontier Building … Legendary Man

Frontier Building … Legendary Man. . , The timber-framed, weatherboard-clad building now known as Donovan's Store was built during the time of the first West Coast gold rush in the 1860s. Trading initially as the Club Hotel, it survives as the oldest building of its kind on the West Coast., James Donovan bought the building around 1890 and opened a general store selling everything from 'axe handles to 10 bottles of pain killer a year'. Parts of the store were rebuilt after a tornado strike, but the current front gable is known to date from the Club Hotel days., The subsequent owners of the store were Mr. and Mrs. Keith Robertson who continued to open the store twice a week until about 1985, selling mainly confectionery and drinks. They bequeathed the land and buildings to the Department of Conservation in 1987., James Donovan , Jimmy Donovan was born in Hokitika in 1867 and attended his first gold rush, with his parents, at the tender age of 6 weeks. This connection to the frontier communities continued throughout his life as he lived and worked with miners, millers and farmers at Whataroa, Mapourika and Okarito. While his life will always be closely associated with Donovan's general store, which he and his wife Eva ran for more than 50 years, it was his commitment to the advancement of South Westland through which he gained true respect., Jimmy's commitment to local body affairs was truly remarkable. During the last 30 years of his service as a Westland County Council member he missed not a single ordinary meeting. Attendance at each meeting required a 90 mile trek to Hokitika, which he mostly did on horseback! At the time of his death, in 1956 at the age of 88, he was the oldest local body member in New Zealand.,

"Without a doubt no man knew South Westland more intimately than he and no man had the interests of that district more deeply at heart".

, It is 1866, height of the Okarito gold rush… , Imagine a bustling street frontage of theatres, hotels and bond stores. Prospectors are arriving daily on ships “The Bruce” or “Ballarat”, swelling the population of Okarito township to 1250 and that of outlying settlements Three Mile and Five Mile to 2500., Against this backdrop a weatherboard building is quickly constructed from locally milled rimu, kahikatea, North Island kauri and imported baltic pine, and opens its hotel doors to newly arrived, gold-fevered prospectors., Today Donovan's Store is a category 1 Historic Building, a place or site of special or outstanding historical significance or value., Captions/credits , . Jimmy and Eva Donovan "When the sawmills, the harbour and Okarito itself are booming again, another memorial should go up smartly, to the Grand Old Man of the Coast , Jimmy Donovan , and his wife, both dinkum New Zealanders." The Evening Post, November 5, 1956 New Zealand Pictorial | Auckland | 1950s , . Below: Built in the mid-1860s, the Club Hotel was the forerunner of Donovan's Store. , . Bottom Left: Okarito Township about 1860. Newspaper | Unknown source | Department of Conservation , . Right: The Strand, Okarito. This photograph was taken after the height of the 1860s gold rushes. Alexander Turnbull Library