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The Otago gold rush (often called the Central Otago gold rush) was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand.This was the country's biggest gold strike, and led to a rapid influx of foreign miners to the area – many of them veterans of other hunts for the precious metal in California and Victoria, Australia.
A group of Auckland businessmen offered a reward of £100, increased to £500 for the finding of gold in the Auckland region. The Auckland Provincial Council then offered £2000 for the finding of a goldfield in the Hauraki region south of Auckland, though southerners like the Otago Daily Times regarded the potential Coromandel goldfields as a "Complete Hoax".
This setting was partly inspired by Elsie Locke's classic New Zealand children's novel The Runaway Settlers, which also features the gold rush. [5] [6] In Rose Tremains's 2003 novel The Colour a British couple emigrate to New Zealand and the husband gets swept up in the gold rush. The title refers to the gold prospectors' term for very fine ...
Mining in New Zealand began when the Māori quarried rock such as argillite in times prior to European colonisation. [1] Mining by Europeans began in the latter half of the 19th century. New Zealand has abundant resources of coal, silver, iron ore, limestone and gold. It ranked 22 in the world in terms of iron ore production and 29th in gold ...
It was the site of New Zealand's first major gold rush. The discovery of gold at Gabriel's Gully by Gabriel Read on 25 May 1861 [ 1 ] [ 2 ] led to the Otago gold rush . [ 2 ] While gold had been found in Otago before, this rush was beyond expectation, with the population of the gold field rising from almost nothing to around 11,500 within a ...
Charles Ring (1832–1906) was a colonial settler who, despite claims that others had been successful before him, is credited with being the first European to discover significant sources of payable gold in New Zealand in 1852. From a young age Ring worked in business and as a farmer both in Australia and New Zealand.
In 1935 New Zealand gold output peaked during the depression, with two-thirds by the Waihi Company which was the largest of the four major companies. That year for tax reasons the Waihi Company was split into three, including the Martha Company which controlled the Martha Mine. [2] By the 1950s the mine was struggling due to a series of factors.
Diggers, Hatters & Whores is a 2008 history book about gold rushes in New Zealand, written by Stevan Eldred-Grigg.. The book's thesis is that the rushes presented a challenge to the economic status quo in New Zealand, which was at the time politically and economically controlled by farmer politicians. [1]