Maratoto Gold by Ann Bale.

Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton, Auckland., 1971 First Edition. VERY SCARCE,

Very good hardback with jacket, inscription to ffep, minor mark. Jacket has light marks and shelfwear with a slightly faded spine. 157 pages, illustrated.

Harold Sparke spent 40 of his 83 years prospecting and mining at Marototo. He had the knowledge and experience, as well as the determination and stamina of a true prospector. Harold Sparke was always known to his friends as Sparky or Sparky. In her 1971 book, Maratoto Gold, Ann Bale describes her first encounter with Harold Sparke: 'The door was held slightly ajar by a lump of rock and we poked our heads curiously into the gloomy interior. 'Hello there,' said a surprised voice from within. Startled we stopped in our tracks, feeling rather like criminals caught breaking and entering. The man who came to the door looked almost as forgotten and derelict as the shanty. I stared unbelievingly, for he could have walked out of a photograph taken about fifty years ago. He wore a couple of thin tattered shirts, each layer trying to cover up the holes in the other. A piece of yellow fuse was twisted around his waist holding up dirt-spotted, baggy grey trousers that were tucked into old leather boots.

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