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On May 23rd 1861, "gold shining like the stars in Orion on a dark frosty night" was discovered in the Tuapeka Stream by Australian gold prospector Gabriel Read.
163 years later to the day, Sean Brosnahan, Curator at Toitu/Otago Settlers Museum, entertained and informed us about gold and the impact of the Gold Rush on Dunedin. Some of Seans key points were as follows: Gold rushes occurred in other places (notably California, Victoria and Nelson) prior to the Otago discovery, and local firms had already benefited from supplying equipment and food. Local Maori knew of the presence of gold in Central Otago but placed no value on it (although they did pass on their knowledge to the miners.) Provincial Superintendent William Cargill was not at all keen for his settlement of pious Scottish Presbyterians to be thrown into disarray by a mad rush for gold and actively discouraged the idea in favour of grain and wool production. The Tuapeka area was considered to be "sheep country" by the locals, which often led to friction with the miners. Helen Munro, the only woman to discover a new source of gold in the region gave her name (Munros Gully) to the locality A miner with a good claim could earn between £100-£700 compared to the average annual wage of £50-£60 Dunedin's booming population required better infrastucture and a tax on gold exported was used to fund roads, ferry crossings, bridges, gas street lights, municipal water supply and more impressive (stone) buildings. The Tuapeka "rush" for the easy gold was relatively short lived and the deeper and more difficult deposits required more industrial scale methods of extraction. Many of the miners moved on to the Dunstan and Shotover which were bigger fields. Sean is a very sought-after speaker and we are most grateful to him for another fascinating talk to our group. |
On now! 
