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The first gold seeking settlers arrived via treacherous
mountain trails from Christchurch or on boats via the violent
Tasman Sea and difficult harbours.
Most were inexperienced as they were pushed from their homes
a world away by terrible poverty and famine. Amidst metres of rain and deadly rivers
homes had to be built and gold found to pay for food and
services. Today, many towns
are just memories buried deep in regenerating rainforests others are
just shadows of their former glory.
Studies
Interested groups visit museums, surviving gold towns, ghost towns and
old mining areas. Visits help us understand the forces and turmoil that the gold
rush settlers endured.
We explore the problems of lawlessness and follow the human industrial development through to their modern settlements of today.
Soon we
begin to appreciate and understand the rolls, responsibilities and advantages
modern communities provide for us today.
Visits need to be accompanied with some knowledge of their past unique
and enthralling stories.
See also:
Some of the old, once
booming,
towns now so much different, each is worth visiting
●
Lyell
- Ghost town since the 1940s
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Reefton
- Now boosted with new gold operation and farming
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Hokitika
-
Once the capital now a tourist
attraction
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Ross
-
Scene of recent major mining operation
●
Greymouth
- Suffering with
effort of keeping its harbour for fishing
●
Murchison
-
Known for its more recent earthquake disasters
●
Crushing
-
Quartz mining bought great wealth
●
Kumara
●
Shantytown -
Living museum town
See also:
Settlements of the Mining & Milling Zone |
New
Zealand Learning Adventures
with KANES
