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Tuapeka
Lawrence is a small town in Otago, in New Zealand's South Island. It is located on State Highway 8, the main route from Dunedin to the inland towns of Queenstown and Alexandra. It lies 35 kilometres to the northwest of Milton, 11 kilometres northwest of Waitahuna, and close to the Tuapeka River, a tributary of the Clutha. History The discovery of gold at Gabriel's Gully by Gabriel Read in May 1861 led to the Central Otago goldrush with the population of the gold field rising from almost nothing to around 11,500 within a year, twice that of Dunedin at the time. Gabriel’s Gully was quickly dotted with tents and workings, stores and government “buildings”. By December 1861, there were some 14,000 people on the Tuapeka goldfield and it continued to climb and by February 1864 was around 24,000. Around a third of these miners were English, a significant proportion were Irish, while some were European, with others of Chinese origin. The ground under the makeshift township ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Otago Goldrush
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. The rush started at Gabriel's Gully but spread throughout much of Central Otago, leading to the rapid expansion and commercialisation of the new colonial settlement of Dunedin, which quickly grew to be New Zealand's largest city. Only a few years later, most of the smaller new settlements were deserted, and gold extraction became more long-term, industrialised-mechanical process. Background Previous gold finds in New Zealand Previously gold had been found in small quantities in the Coromandel Peninsula (by visiting whalers) and near Nelson in 1842. Commercial interests in Auckland offered a £500 prize for anyone who could find payable q ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clutha District
Clutha District is a local government district of southern New Zealand, with its headquarters in the Otago town of Balclutha. The Clutha District has a land area of and an estimated population of as of . Clutha District occupies the majority of the geographical area known as South Otago. Geography The geography of the Clutha District is dominated by the valley of the Clutha River, which flows southeast from the lakes of Central Otago, bisecting the Clutha District and reaching the Pacific Ocean via two river mouths, one of which is not far from Kaitangata, the other is closer to Kaka Point. The two branches of the river (the Matau and the Kouau) form the island of Inch Clutha. To the south of this is the rough bush country of the Catlins, with its forests and rugged coastline. To the north of the Clutha valley is mainly rolling hill country, with the plain of the Tokomairaro River to the northeast, along with Lake Waihola and Lake Waipori, which are part of the catchment of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clutha River
The Clutha River (, officially gazetted as Clutha River / ) is the second longest river in New Zealand and the longest in the South Island. It flows south-southeast through Central and South Otago from Lake Wānaka in the Southern Alps to the Pacific Ocean, south west of Dunedin. It is the highest volume river in New Zealand, and the swiftest, with a catchment of , discharging a mean flow of . The river is known for its scenery, gold-rush history, and swift turquoise waters. A river conservation group, the Clutha Mata-Au River Parkway Group, is working to establish a regional river parkway, with a trail, along the entire river corridor. Geography The ultimate source of the river is at the head of the Makarora River, close to the saddle of the Haast Pass, which flows into the northern end of Lake Wānaka. The southern end of the lake drains into the nascent Clutha close to Albert Town, where it is met by its first main tributary, the Hāwea River, the outflow of Lake Wānaka ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tuapeka River
The Tuapeka River is located in Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. It is a tributary of the Clutha River, which it joins at Tuapeka Mouth between Roxburgh and Balclutha. The Tuapeka's main claim to fame is as the centre of the Central Otago Gold Rush 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 – ... of the 1860s. The first major discovery of gold in Otago was at Gabriel's Gully, close to the Tuapeka, in 1861. An earlier wooden crib dam was built further upstream in 1907. This concrete dam was begun in 1914. Water from the dam was conveyed on a water race to the turbine and sluicing area. References Rivers of Otago Otago Gold Rush Rivers of New Zealand Tributaries of the Clutha River {{Otago-river-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roxburgh Branch
The Roxburgh Branch was a branch line railway built in the Otago region of New Zealand's South Island that formed part of the country's national rail network. Originally known as the Lawrence Branch, it was one of the longest construction projects in New Zealand railway history, beginning in the 1870s and not finished until 1928. The full line was closed in 1968. Construction The original reason for the line's construction was to provide better transport access to Lawrence, then known as Tuapeka, the site of New Zealand's first significant discovery of gold. Contracts for construction were let by mid-1873, and work on the line was well under way by the next year, with a junction with the Main South Line established at Clarksville. Slips and contractor bankruptcies presented delays, but on 22 January 1877, the line opened to Waitahuna, followed by Lawrence on 2 April 1877, 35.27 km from Clarksville. Calls were made to extend the Lawrence Branch further, with some pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clutha District Council
Clutha District Council is the territorial authority for the Clutha District of New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count .... The council is led by the mayor of Clutha, who is currently . There are also 14 ward councillors. Composition Councillors * Mayor * Balclutha ward: 4 seats * Bruce ward: 3 seats * Catlins ward: 1 seat * Clinton ward: 1 seat * Clutha Valley ward: 1 seat * Kaitangata-Matau ward: 1 seat * Lawrence-Tuapeka ward: 1 seat * West Otago ward: 2 seats Community boards * Lawrence/Tuapeka Community Board: 7 members * West Otago Community Board: 8 members History The council was established in 1989 through the merger of Lawrence Borough Council (established in 1866), Balclutha Borough Council (established in 1870), Clutha County Council (esta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gabriel's Gully
Gabriel's Gully is a locality in Otago, New Zealand, three kilometres from Lawrence township and close to the Tuapeka River. 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 led to the Central Otago goldrush. 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 year, twice that of Dunedin at the time.''Whykickamoocow - curious New Zealand place names'' - McCloy, Nicola, Random House New Zealand, 2006 It also stimulated overseas interest in the new colony. In May 1911, the jubilee of the discovery of gold in Gabriel's Gully was held in Lawrence, with around 2,000 people attending, including surviving miners. Gabriel's Gully today is now part of the Gabriels Gully Historic Reserve, and is managed by the Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Joseph Woods
John Joseph Woods (1849 – 9 June 1934) was a New Zealand teacher and songwriter. He is best known for winning a competition to set "God Defend New Zealand", a poem by Thomas Bracken, to music. By doing this, he composed the tune to what later became New Zealand's national anthem. Woods was also the Tuapeka County Council clerk for 55 years. Biography Personal life Woods was born in the then colony of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) in 1849 into an Irish family with fourteen other children, seven boys and seven girls. His father was a soldier. After teaching in Tasmania for nine years, he migrated to New Zealand as a young man and worked for a time in Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill. Eight years teaching in New Zealand led to a position as the head teacher of St Patrick's School in Lawrence, Otago, and he moved there from Invercargill in 1874. Woods was known as a good musician. He was choirmaster of the local Catholic church, and could play twelve different ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gabriel Read
Thomas Gabriel Read (21 August 182531 October 1894) was a gold prospector and farmer. His discovery of gold in Gabriel's Gully triggered the first major gold rush in New Zealand. Life Read was born on 21 August 1825 in Tasmania, Australia. The eldest of ten children, his father was businessman and banker George Frederick Read and his mother, Margaret Terry, was the daughter of a miller and the senior Read's second wife. After working on the goldfields of California and Victoria in the 1850s, Read travelled to Otago, New Zealand, on board the ''Don Pedro II'', having heard rumours in September 1860 of gold being found in Mataura, Southland. He arrived in Otago in February 1861. On 25 May 1861, he discovered gold close to the banks of the Tuapeka River in Otago, at Gabriel's Gully, which is named after him. Read wrote to Otago Superintendent John Richardson on 4 June to confirm the discovery, which led to the Otago Gold Rush. The Otago Provincial Council awarded Read £1000, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandra, New Zealand
Alexandra (Māori: ''Manuherikia'' or ''Areketanara'') is a town in the Central Otago district of the South Island of New Zealand. It is on the banks of the Clutha River (at the confluence of the Manuherikia River), on State Highway 8, by road from Dunedin and south of Cromwell. The nearest towns to Alexandra via state highway 8 are Clyde seven kilometers to the northwest and Roxburgh forty kilometers to the south. State highway 85 also connects Alexandra to Omakau, Lauder, Oturehua, Ranfurly and on to Palmerston on the East Otago coast. The town of Alexandra is home to people as of History The town was founded during the Central Otago goldrush in the 1860s, and was named after Alexandra of Denmark by John Aitken Connell who surveyed the town. In a two-month period in 1862, two gold miners called Horatio Hartley and Christopher Reilly collected 34 kilograms of gold from the Cromwell Gorge, Hartley and Reilly travelled together to New Zealand after meeting in the Calif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Main South Line
The Main South Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, is a railway line that runs north and south from Lyttelton in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the South Island to Invercargill via Dunedin. It is one of the most important railway lines in New Zealand and was one of the first to be built, with construction commencing in the 1860s. At Christchurch, it connects with the Main North Line to Picton, the other part of the South Island Main Trunk. Construction Construction of the Main South Line falls into two main sections: from Christchurch through southern Canterbury to Otago's major city of Dunedin; and linking the southern centres of Dunedin and Invercargill, improving communication in southern Otago and large parts of Southland. Construction of the first section of the line began in 1865 and the whole line was completed on 22 January 1879. Christchurch-Dunedin section The Canterbury provincial government ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prepared flat surface, rail vehicles (rolling stock) are directionally guided by the tracks on which they run. Tracks usually consist of steel rails, installed on sleepers (ties) set in ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels, moves. Other variations are also possible, such as "slab track", in which the rails are fastened to a concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface. Rolling stock in a rail transport system generally encounters lower frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, so passenger and freight cars (carriages and wagons) can be coupled into longer trains. The operation is carried out by a railway company, providing transport between train stations or freight customer facilit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
