The Legacy of Gold

Gabriel's Gully

Gabriel's Gully is a few kilometres north of Lawrence—just outside the boundary of Central Otago—but it was here, in 1861, that gold was first found in New Zealand, triggering a huge gold-rush.  Lawrence became the area's first gold-rush town.  Now a small settlement with around 400 inhabitants, at the height of its gold mining boom it was home to 11,000.    After this strike, gold was discovered throughout Central Otago and elsewhere in the South Island, leading to a huge increase in New Zealand's population. 

            Gabriel Reed's discovery was part of a massive deposit that took seventy years to exhaust. The miners used a technique, called hydraulic elevating, that forced the gold- bearing gravel from the earth using high water pressure: the gully floor was eventually lowered by fifty metres.  The area is now a gentle hollow with grass and ponds, and I found it hard to imagine what the gully had been like when hundreds of men were mining the area.  It was only when we later visited Bannockburn near Cromwell that I got an inkling of what a raw, sluiced landscape looks like.

    

Roxburgh

        

We parked Tangaroa at Pinders Pond beside the rushing waters of the Clutha Mata-au River and cycled the Clutha Gold Trail.  We wanted to see what the scenery and history was like in this part of Central Otago, which is so different from the Maniototo.  Māori called the river Mata-au, meaning surface current—miners called it the Golden River because so much gold was taken from it.  Captain Cook named the river Molyneux and this name survived into the gold mining era.  The Clutha Mata-au River is the longest in the South Island and the swiftest in the country.   

            North of Lawrence we came to the Millers Flat area, where the cycle track passes through the remote Beaumont Gorge.  Just off the track at Horseshoe Bend is a walking path to the only remaining suspension bridge over the river.  Horseshoe Bend was a thriving gold mining community in 1863, with a population of 200, but the boom went bust and two years later there were only 72 people left.  One of the remaining inhabitants was William Rigney who, the story goes, found the drowned body of a young man and buried him with a wooden headboard saying, 'Somebody's Darling Lies Buried Here'.  Rigney always maintained that it was not him who buried the body but, after he died in 1912, he was interred beside Somebody's Darling.  We read the epitaph on his gravestone: 'Here lies the body of William Rigney, the man who buried Somebody's Darling'.  The site is known as 'The Lonely Graves' as they are in a now deserted area.  It was a mournful sort of place and we didn't tarry.

The Lonely Graves

            Beside the historic, wooden bake-house at Millers Flat township, we found Faigan's community-owned grocery store.  This was previously the business run by four generations of the Faigan family, the original suppliers of provisions to the gold miners.  You can still stock up on sandwiches and other provisions as you cycle past.  I loved looking around the inside of the store, it was museum-like, with old signs and merchandising paraphernalia, similar to the shop at Oturehua. 

            From Millers Flat, the cycle trail continued through farming and orchard country to Pinders Pond where we were freedom camped.  This small lake is now a recreation area but was once the site of a mining operation run by 'Big John' Ewing, described as one of the area's most colourful mining entrepreneurs.  He arrived in Otago in 1863 and worked in various goldfields before making—and losing his fortune—at Dunstan Creek Goldfields (St Bathans).  Trying to regain his losses he began digging at the site of the Clutha Mata-au River's old bed.  The pit was excavated between 1918 and 1922 to a depth of 23 metres but gold was never found there.  Ewing died in 1922 and the pit filled up to form Pinders Pond, named after a family that once owned the land.  All signs of the area's industrial past are gone or  quietly rusting away.

            Roxburgh was a quaint old gold mining town to explore.  We cycled up and down the stretch of the trail from Tangaroa to the town a few times, enjoying cold drinks and ice creams at one of the cafes in town.  The area's fruit growing developed soon after the gold rush and there are roadside stalls selling fruit in season.  From Roxburgh the trail went north to the Roxburgh Dam.  Just after Roxburgh Bridge, a memorial marks the spot where two miners found gold in 1860 as they prospected while drying their clothes.  This discovery sparked the Roxburgh district's gold rush.

Cycle track on Flat Top Hill, above Butchers Dam

            We drove further north to Butchers Dam where we parked Tangaroa beside the quiet, lake-like waters.  The area reminded me of the Yorkshire moors—scrubby grassland grazed by sheep with higher hills, topped by rocky tors behind.  In the distance were the snow topped peaks of the Old Man Range.  Butchers Dam was once Butchers Gully, a gold mining site.  The store and butcher's shop were there by 1865, and a stone hotel, replacing one destroyed by fire, was built in 1890.  When the dam was constructed in 1935 the hotel was destroyed, though it is said that its chimney can still be seen when the water level is low.

            There is a loop walkway around the lake, with information panels, so we went for an afternoon stroll.  The walkway went over the dam wall, then passed through tussock and outcrops of schist.  At the far side of the lake we came to the remains of a substantial stone wall and an old cottage.  This was once the home and orchard of a Chinese man called Li Bo (known as Lye Bow).  The adjacent information board told his story. 

            Li Bo fled China after killing a man in a duel and joined many of his countrymen on the New Zealand goldfields.  In 1889 he bought five hectares of land and established apricot orchards, the remains of which we were looking at.  He employed some fellow-Chinese to sell the fruit in Alexandra, and they would often be seen balancing their baskets at either end of a long pole on their way into town.  Later he bought a horse and cart from which, in 1930, he fell and died being aged around one hundred.  Li Bo is remembered for his generosity and kindness.  Malcolm and I pondered on the fact that we knew so little about those early Chinese miners, only recently has New Zealand begun to celebrate their heritage.  We learned more when we went to Arrowtown.

            From the bus we looked up at Flat Top Hill.  We could see some 4WD tracks and decided to do a bit of mountain biking.  I found the area at the top part of the hill hard going, the tracks were very narrow (just more than tyre width) through the scratchy  thyme that covered the slopes.  Later I saw that local mountain bikers have named the tracks such things as Purple Haze and Thymeless Trail and they are categorised as being grade 3-6—fine for Malcolm but not so much fun for cautious me!  The views from the top of the hill made it worthwhile though.  We could see the dam and surrounding area but—more dramatically—in the other direction we could look down into Roxburgh Gorge almost directly below us.  We could see part of the Roxburgh Gorge Cycle Trail which goes from Alexandra to Lake Roxburgh Dam.  At Doctors Point, down in the gorge below, cyclists have to go by jet boat for 13 kilometres before continuing their ride.

Looking Down from Flat Top Hill

The track to Doctors Point

            Malcolm later cycled the ten kilometre stretch of trail from Alexander to Doctors Point and back (whilst I spent some time stocking up with second-hand books at a Lions charity book sale).  The bluffs on either side of the river rose up to 350 metres, and there were remains of tiny miner’s huts along the route. 

            Cromwell and Lake Dunstan are among our favourite places in the South Island.  There are quite a few freedom camping areas along the lakeside (though the council has closed some lately).  We parked Tangaroa on the western shores and went to look around the old gold rush settlements of Bendigo, Logantown and Welshtown.  (This was the area we passed through when we drove the Thomson Gorge Road.)  The Bendigo area was one of the richest areas in New Zealand where fortunes—'homeward bounders'—were made.  From the 1800s right up until the 1930s the area was a hive of activity.  Every tree for miles around was cut down for building and firewood, leaving a bare and, now, lonely area.

Welshtown

            There is a turn off SH 8 at Crippletown that took us to the old Bendigo township where a few ruined buildings stand roofless.  We also saw the dredge used by the Bendigo Light Dredge Company in the desperate days of the 1930s depression.  The area had been thoroughly worked over by this time and most of its inhabitants were gone.  The dredge worked for a year and a half but only uncovered 45 ounces of gold, enough to cover only two weeks of mining costs.

            We continued on to see the ruins of the school at Schoolhouse Flat, then turned uphill on Blue Mines Road to view the main groups of historic ruins at Logantown and Welshtown.  Logantown was the business area, while Welshtown was residential.  The first buildings were mostly corrugated iron and timber, long since rotted away—or packed up and taken to another gold rush site.  The stone buildings that remain are a testimony to the Welsh stonemasons.  Originally they would have been thatched with tussock and later re-roofed with iron.  The more wealthy settlers even wallpapered their rooms with paper from Paris!  Now all that was left of these once-bustling settlements were the remains of walls.  This, to me, is one of the iconic images of Central Otago.

            The town of Cromwell was originally known as 'The Junction' because it was sited where the Clutha and Kawarau Rivers met.  It was surveyed in 1863.  The original canvas town of tents and schist shacks grew after a bridge was built to provide easier access.   More permanent buildings were constructed along the busy main street, Melmore Terrace. 

Shop in Cromwell's heritage Precinct

            The town continued to thrive when the gold rush days faded, mainly because of the success of fruit growing.  Cromwell's first Horticultural Society was founded in 1892 and the coming of the railway in 1917 ensured overnight delivery of fruit to Dunedin markets.  In the Cromwell Gorge, orchardists found a microclimate, where crops ripened even before those in Cromwell itself.  They began to grow apricots, plums nectarines and peaches.  Descendants of the original fruit growers  who still lived and worked in the gorge in the late twentieth century had to move away when the Clyde Dam was built, flooding the valley. 

            However, there are still many orchards in Cromwell and the surrounding area.  Locals and visitors crowd to the roadside fruit shops and stalls, while many orchards have pick-your-own areas.   Cherries were in season when we visited in December—we were given a brimming bag-full by motor-homing friends who were working in a cherry orchard.  Cromwell's horticultural legacy is recognised by the town's icon, the 13-metre-high, 7 tonne, Big Fruit Sculpture—presented by the  Rotary Club in 1990.

            While fruit growing has remained a constant for 150 years, the miners and settlers of 'The Junction' would not recognise Cromwell's shoreline.  What was once the confluence of two great rivers is now part of picturesque Lake Dunstan.  Waters lap the lakeshore  40 metres above what were once tree-fringed valleys.  Building of the Clyde Dam was begun in 1977 and by 1993 Lake Dunstan was full.   Cromwell's old bridge is deep underwater, supposedly with a Mark 1 Zephyr still parked on it.  Cromwell became the 'newest town in the country' with the building of a new bridge, houses and modern shopping mall.  Part of Cromwell's main street was lost to flooding but some grand old buildings were saved and rebuilt in Old Cromwell Town, Cromwell's Heritage Precinct.  Cobb & Co's store, Jolly's Seed and Grain Store, the Belfast Store, Argus building and several others now sit safely above the water.   Wishart's Garage and Murrell's cottage have been refurbished on their original sites.  This area is a pleasant mix of museum-like buildings—open to wander around—and galleries, workshops, designer stores and cafes.  A farmers market is held here every Sunday from November to Easter.

View of Lake Dunstan from Lowburn Terraces

The 45th parallel

            Probably our all-time favourite freedom camping place in the Cromwell area was at Lowburn, just north of town on SH 6.  The original settlement of Lowburn is now underwater, but the church was moved inland and it now stands beside the waters of the Lowburn Inlet.  We walked up the steep 501 steps just north of Lowburn to the Lowburn Terraces, where the 45th parallel crosses Lake Dunstan.  From the terraces and the peak known as the Sugar Loaf we got awesome views up and down the lake.  We followed the walking track down through remains of gold-mining tailings, beside a water race to the Lowburn Inlet.  Another day we cycled the track from Pisa Moorings, through Old Cromwell and along to the Bannockburn Bridge.  This is a pretty and mostly flat trail beside Lake Dunstan and the Kawarau River.

Cycling beside Lake Dunstan

            Bannockburn, across the Kawarau River, was where we saw what sluicing for gold can do to a landscape.  We walked through the Bannockburn Sluicings, once a busy mining area.  Miners worked their claims in small syndicates and the high pillars of rock and earth that remain, towering above the valley floor, were the corners of their claims, left to prevent disputes.  We passed races, dams, sluiced cliff faces, tunnels and caves, as the path wound its way through the workings.  Some of the tunnels were mines before the landscape began to be washed away.  High on the slopes above, what looks like a stone wall enclosing a paddock was in fact the remains of Menzies Dam, once fed by races.  Nearby are the remains of Stewart Town—some roofless rammed-earth houses the colour of the surrounding dusty hillsides—and, surprisingly, an orchard of pear and apricot trees—planted by miners and still bearing fruit.  This homely touch made the deserted settlement that much more poignant.

Bannockburn Sluicings

Ruins at the Bannockburn Sluicings

            After a couple of hours exploring the sluicings, we drove into the tiny settlement of Bannockburn.  There are some buildings here dating back to settler times, including what is now a cafe and nearby, the pub.  The Bannockburn Hotel was first built in 1867 and holds the first liquor licence granted in Central Otago.  The present building is full of old photographs and historical information but we came mainly for its beer garden, where we enjoyed  long cold drinks while we looked down on Cromwell and Lake Dunstan.

            West of Cromwell, through the Kawarau Gorge, is the old gold town of Arrowtown.  This area is popular with tourists because of its proximity to Queenstown, and because of its picturesque old streets, where miner’s cottages nestle under avenues of trees.  After wandering its quaint and attractive main street, we explored the partly-restored, old Chinese settlement.  Chinese miners did not integrate with miners from other countries and lived separately from them.  They were often the victims of discrimination and racism.  There is a walkway around and through the settlement with information panels that helped us understand what life was like for these men.  (There were no Chinese women at the settlement, the first Chinese woman came to New Zealand in 1873 and twenty years later there were only 11 in the country).

Chinese Settlement at Arrowtown

            Scattered around the area were the tiny houses that the Chinese lived in—built of mud brick, stone or corrugated iron.  Some had been thatched, others roofed with iron.  We looked around Ah Lum's Store, one of several built by Wong Hop Lee in 1883—Ah Lum being a later owner.  This little building was divided into five rooms with the store taking up half the space.  Behind were bedrooms, kitchen and an office-cum-bank.  Ah Lum died in 1927.

            Shockingly it wasn't until 1944 that a discriminatory poll tax was abolished.  In 2002 the government apologised to the Chinese community for the wrongs they had suffered.  Of all the immigrants who came to New Zealand, hoping to make their fortunes in the gold-rush era, the Chinese miners probably had the worst deal.  In fact, very few miners, of any race and from any country, really made their fortunes.  Yet these people helped create the New Zealand we enjoy today.

Information about places mentioned in this post - correct at the time of writing

Walks

• ·         Gabriels Gully

www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/otago/places/gabriels-gully-historic-reserve

2.4 km loop, easy: walking track

Access: Gabriels Gully Rd, Lawrence

• ·         Butchers Dam Loop Track

www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/otago/places/alexandra-area/flat-top-hill-conservation-area/

2.5 km loop, 1 hr, easy

Access: SH 8, 6km south of Alexandra

• ·         45th Parallel Walk

www.centralotagonz.com/tracks-and-walks/cromwell-area/45th-parallel-walk

2 km, 1 hr, easy: walking track

Access: SH 6 (by 45th Parallel Monument) Lowburn

• ·         Bannockburn Sluicings Track

www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/otago/places/bannockburn-area/things-to-do/bannockburn-sluicings-track

3.5 km loop, 1 hr 30 min, easy: walking track

Access: Felton Rd, Bannockburn

Cycle  Trails

• ·         Clutha Gold Cycle Trail

www.nzcycletrail.com/trails/clutha-gold-trail

The 73 km trail can be cycled in sections:

Roxburgh Dam to Millers Flat,  31 km, grade2: easy

Millers Flat to Beaumont, 20 km, grade2: easy

Beaumont to Lawrence, 22 km, grade2: easy

• ·         Cromwell Trails:

Cromwell to Lowburn: 19 km return, grade 2: easy

Cromwell to Bannockburn Lakeside Trail;  11 km return, grade 2-3: easy to intermediate

Places to visit

• ·         Bendigo

SH 8 Tarras-Cromwell Rd

www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/parks-and-recreation/places-to-visit/otago/exploring-historic-bendigo-brochure.pdf

• ·         Arrowtown Chinese Settlement

Buckingham St, Arrowtown

www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/otago/places/arrowtown-area/things-to-do/arrowtown-chinese-settlement