Gold rush memories

Press, 19 July 1983, Page 30

Gold rush memories

Of all New Zealand’s historic gold rush towns, Arrowtown is the best known and most publicised. There are two routes to the town, about 20km from Queenstown. One takes motorists past Coronet Peak and over the Shotover River gorge; the other follows the main highway past beautiful Lake Hayes. A century seems to have passed Arrowtown by — its main street has changed little since it was built by the gold diggers in the 1860 s. Tiny wooden cottages, stone store-fronts and colonial verandas line the road, dwarfed by the huge trees that have outlived the men who planted them. Most of Arrowtown’s shops have something of interest to the souvenir hunter. There are art galler-

ies and craft shops, antique shops and sheepskin shops, gift shops and fashion boutiques. The Lakes District Museum is housed at Arrowtown and is one of the most comprehensive collections of gold mining memorabilia in the country. Everything from the primitive instruments of local doctors and dentists in the last century to water wheels and Chinese miners’ artefacts are on display and the museum gives a good historical background from which to make investigations of the many gold rush sites in the area. A monument beside the Arrow River upstream from the town marks the discovery of gold by William Fox in 1862. The river was worked at first by only

three parties of miners who jealously guarded the location of their huge gold strike for several weeks before being discovered and “rushed.”

The original settlement was known first as Fox’s Rush, then simply Fox’s, later The Arrow and finally as Arrowtown which developed at the mouth of the Arrow River gorge as a service and social centre for the thousands of miners who lived nearby. In winter Arrowtown is popular as an alternative accommodation centre to Queenstown. Its quiet atmosphere and unhurried pace suit those of a more peaceloving nature, hence the many artists and creative people who have made the little town their home.