Arrowtown

Visited historic Arrowtown on the way back from skydiving. Lots of gold mining history in this area, the Otago province, and learned all about it at the Lakes District Museum, which was really well done! Cute historic Main Street with old shop facades, great museum, historic gaol, and Chinese miners settlement! Miners came from all over once gold was discovered and created an economic boom. But once the easy-to-find gold was depleted, the European miners left, so the provincial government invited Chinese miners to come, who were met with a lot of racism and ostracism. The opposition to inviting them, of which there was lots, was countered by the argument "increase in population, even were it in the shape of chimpanzees, would be preferable to no population at all." (From an 1867 newspaper). So the Chinese miners mostly stuck to themselves, creating a settlement just outside of the main Arrowtown.Read more