The Goldfields

There are many sites to visit throughout Central Otago. Because of its dry climate, the mud and stone buildings, mining equipment and machinery, deep mine shafts and tunnels, impressive sluiced cliffs and discarded tailings all remain for us to see. Dams and water races created as a water source for goldmining are still used today for modern irrigation systems. Apart from the historic sluice-scarred hills around Naseby there are two outstanding sites to visit nearby.

Just out of Oturehua, originally known as Rough Ridge, is the Golden Progress mine. Here you can see the only poppet head still standing in Central Otago. The 14 metre structure enabled gold-bearing ore to be brought to the surface from a shaft which was over 60 metres deep. The steam boilers which powered the plant lie alongside.

The second site is at St Bathans. The gold rush began at St Bathans in 1863 when gold was found in gullies on Kildare Hill opposite the present hamlet. What was a deserted tussock-covered area in 1862 had become a bustling township two years later with a population of 2,000 supported by 10 hotels and 40 businesses. Mining continued until 1934 when the Maniototo County Council expressed a concern that any further mining would endanger the main street as well as a number of buildings. During this 70 year period, mining reduced the 400ft Kildare Hill to a 200ft pit which, when it was flooded, became the spectacular Blue Lake.

The Otago Goldfields Heritage Trail offers you a chance to travel through the ‘golden era’ of New Zealand history. Find out about the Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust Cavalcade which has become a popular annual event usually held in March. Each year a different town along the Heritage Trail hosts the annual celebrations.

You can visit these sites and many more yourself or we can organise a guide who will give you a fascinating insight into the lives of the miners in the mid to late 1800s. And you can do some prospecting yourself.

I recently talked our guide Allan Dunford, who on his way back from Queenstown decided to stop off at the Kawarau river and do a spot of gold prospecting. "Five minutes into this and I had a half ounce nugget sitting in my hand, so it was not a wasted day in the end.”

For further information contact;
The Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust
Email      goldfields@nzsouth.co.nz
Website www.nzsouth.co.nz/goldfields

Allan Dunford
Email      allan@nasebygold.co.nz
Website www.nasebygold.co.nz