Have banjo, will travel

A biography detailing the adventures of former Wanganui resident Ernest Mansfield has recently been published and is available for online purchases.

Mansfield was born in London in 1862, migrated to New Zealand from England when he was 16 and lived in Wanganui from 1878 to 1897. He was a journalist for the Wanganui Chronicle, and gave banjo lessons, advertised in the Chronicle and the Wanganui Herald.

He went on to found mining and prospecting operation Northern Exploration Company Ltd in Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic which is the northernmost part of Norway.

The book Gold - or I'm a Dutchman! Ernest Mansfield 1862-1924 covers his life from his time in New Zealand to his death in England in 1924, all the time promoting himself and his mining claims.

Mansfield is a well-known historical personality in Svalbard.

This new biography examines Ernest Mansfield's life and legacy, strengthened by extracts from books, newspapers and magazine articles, together with special maps and many never-before-published photographs.

For over 30 years, adventurer, prospector, and author Mansfield circled the globe seeking fortunes from mining expeditions in the hunt for gold.

This biography of Mansfield was written by Susan Barr, a special adviser in polar matters with the Norwegian Directorate of Cultural Heritage, Oslo, David Newman, a Goldhanger, England historian and retired professional engineer and Greg Nesteroff, a journalist and historian in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada.

"We ended up by joining forces to investigate. We have searched the net and particularly found much material in PapersPast. The library in Wanganui has also helped," said Dr Barr.