Arrowtown preserves one of NZ's most important Chinese gold-rush settlements
Beside Bush Creek stand the restored huts of Arrowtown's Chinese miners, who worked the goldfields from the late 1860s under hardship most visitors never hear about.
Invited to rework the Otago goldfields as European miners left for new rushes, Chinese miners, mostly from Guangdong, built a separate settlement on the edge of Arrowtown from the late 1860s. At its peak dozens lived here in stone-and-canvas huts through brutal Central Otago winters, sending earnings home while facing discrimination and, later, a punitive poll tax.
The partially restored village beside Bush Creek is free to walk through, five minutes from Arrowtown's cafés. Ah Lum's store, the settlement's social hub, still stands, one of the country's most significant Chinese heritage buildings.
Quick answers
- What is the Arrowtown Chinese Settlement?
- The preserved remains of the village where Chinese gold miners lived from the late 1860s, beside Bush Creek in Arrowtown. It's free to visit and includes the restored Ah Lum's store.
Sources
- Chinese miners settled in Arrowtown from the late 1860s; their partially restored settlement is a protected heritage site. [source]