Mr. Patrick Galvin , formerly proprietor of the Shingle Creek Hotel, was born in County Clare, Ireland, in the year 1840, and was brought up to a country life. He came out to Australia in 1857, and commenced carting from Geelong to the various goldfields. In 1860 he joined a firm in establishing a hay and corn store at Redbank. This was conducted till 1862, when he came to Otago. He was successively at Nokomai, Nevis and Clyde. Soon after arriving in the Dunstan district, Mr. Galvin pitched his tent on a site in the Clyde township, and after being there for five days he received the sum of £35, to move elsewhere and make room for a storekeeper to erect his business premises. When the “rush” set in to Fox's, Mr. Galvin carried a swag containing drapery goods, which he succeeded in selling at a profit of £20 in less than an hour after his arrival. He had some exciting experiences in the early days of the goldfields, where horses brought as much as £75, and a first-class animal could not be obtained for even that sum. Mr. Galvin afterwards worked at Conroy's Gully, and became interested in a store at the Half Mile Beach, below Alexandra, where he remained for a year. In 1864, he had the Sportsman's Arms Hotel, in Alexandra, and soon afterwards disposed of it, and purchased the Union Hotel. Three years later Mr. Galvin abandoned the license of the latter hotel, because he was refused permission to play any kind of musical instrument in his house. Mr. Galvin himself is an expert on the Irish and Scotch bagpipes, as well as the flute and violin. He settled in the Shingle Creek district in 1867, and after considerable difficulty, and the exercise of a great deal of patience, succeeded in gaining a freehold section. His property consists of 319 acres at Chasm Creek, and of 200 acres attached to the Shingle Creek Hotel. Mr. Galvin was married, in 1866, to a daughter of the late Mr. M. O'Loughlin, of County Clare, Ireland, and has five sons, four daughters, and two grandchildren. He now (1904) resides at Cardrona.