First major gold rush in Otago starts

The Otago provincial government had offered a £1000 reward for the discovery of ‘payable quantities’ of gold. A Tasmanian, Gabriel Read, claimed the reward (equivalent to more than $100,000 today) after finding gold ‘shining like the stars in Orion on a dark, frosty night’ near the Tuapeka River, a tributary of the Clutha. His discovery sparked the country’s first major gold rush.

Thousands of diggers rushed to ‘Gabriel’s Gully’ hoping to strike it rich. A slice of the goldfields population of Victoria moved across the Tasman − not only miners, but also businesspeople and entertainers. The discovery was a major economic boost to both Otago province and the wider New Zealand economy. But there were fears that criminal elements seeking potentially rich pickings would also flock to the goldfields.

Image: Gabriel Read (Te Ara Biographies)