Gold Mining

Lesson 1: Otago Gold Part One

What Lies Beneath (2006)

Key Content

• The 1860s Otago Gold Rush.
• Early gold mining extraction methods in Otago.

Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to:

• Describe some of the reasons for migration to Otago in the 1860s.
• Describe the living conditions miners faced during early mining activity in New Zealand.
• Outline some of the early gold extraction methods.

1. All For The Gold [extracts], Southern Television Dunedin, 1973

All for the Gold (1973)

These extracts tell the story of the gold rush on Dunedin and Otago province. They reconstruct events using archival photographs, newspaper clippings and personal accounts. Although some miners found wealth and prosperity in the mining towns, many also succumbed to severe winters and flooding (such as in 1863). The pioneer miners’ legacy remains in the population that was established in the province of Otago.

a. Which predominant group of British people settled Otago and Dunedin prior to the gold rush? The Scots.

b. What effects did the Otago gold rush have on Dunedin?
Increased population. New ideas and people entering region. 13,000 men. Worries that the new comers might corrupt the original pious Scottish settlers. New business and shops and services established for miners passing through Dunedin.

c. What year was the first feasible gold field discovered? 1861

d. Why might lawlessness amongst the gold miners be a problem? Single men, drunkenness, gambling, fights over claims, limited police control, robberies, prostitution.

e. What sort of problems did the miners face?
Cold Otago winters, lack of wood for burning to keep warm. Uncertainty about success of finding gold, lack of food and supplies, scurvy, flash flooding, hypothermia, frostbite, avalanches,

f. What does the term alluvial gold mean?
Gold found in and mined from rivers.

2. In Days of Gold: A Tale of the Shotover, Queenstown, New Zealand [extract], NZGPO, 1928

In Days of Gold (1928)

Diving with a suction pump in Lake Wakatipu in 1928. "It's cold work, Mickey - colder'n a tin shirt, and bad for the rheumatics, but glory be what won't they do for a bit of the yellow."

a. Why are the two men winding the wheel?
To provide air to the diver.

3. Pick & Pan on the Otago Gold Fields New Zealand [1936]

Pic and Pan (1936)

Various scenes of Cromwell, Central Otago; fruit growing; the gold rush; remains of the Gold Field Hotel; miners huts; miners panning in the river; gold dust.

a. How did the miners get from one side of the river gorge to the other?
Cable way strung across the gorge.

b. Draw a simple diagram showing how the cable system for crossing rivers works.

c. What tools did the miners use?
Pan, cradle, picks, sluicing with pressured water, dredges.

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