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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Looking Down from Flat Top Hill |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| View of Lake Dunstan from Lowburn Terraces |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Bannockburn Sluicings |
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| 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).
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| 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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Bendigo
SH 8 Tarras-Cromwell Rd
www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/parks-and-recreation/places-to-visit/otago/exploring-historic-bendigo-brochure.pdf
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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
