The Year 13 History class set off on a trip to Arrowtown to discover more about the 19th-century Gold Rush, with a focus on the Chinese miners and changes brought about by this event.
On the way there, we stopped at Lake Pukaki to take in the beautiful view of Mount Aoraki, and enjoyed a pie from the infamous Fairlie bakery. At the gold mining centre, we were able to look at the early discovery of gold, and even tried our luck at gold panning! At the centre, we were able to experience a nice walk around the Chinese village, which helped us get a bit of information for our assessment.
Day two, we set off to Arrowtown’s Lake District Museum and Gallery, where we got to learn more about the gold rush and Chinese goldminers. We had access to the archives, looking through books and writing down valuable information to help us. A highlight was the free time at the museum. This is due to being able to look around Arrowtown more and learn more about gold mining. Although we were spending most of our time learning, we still were able to enjoy this time and were able to walk around and experience more of Arrowtown. A few of us were told to skip around a tree three times for good luck, and discovered how that became a good luck charm. After that, we set off on a walk around Arrowtown, getting to explore the gaol, a church, Saint Mary’s Cottage, and then walking around the Chinese settlement, which gave us information for our research, including images of the old houses and the shops Chinese goldminers had built during the 19th-century gold rush.
On the last day, we stopped at the Bannockburn Sluicing site, which was extremely beautiful, and at the top, you were able to see evidence of the mines from the Chinese goldminers. These mines were where they stored their equipment.
Our teachers, Mr Collier, Mrs Evans-Brakey, and our student teacher, Mr Moir, made this trip worth it. They gave us an exciting trip! These teachers showed us the most exciting activities in Arrowtown, and took time out of their three days to take us somewhere to learn visually, other than staying at school and learning from computer screens.
Written by Stacey Holland, Y13
