gold mining Archives - Heritage Central Otago

Golden generations help keep panning alive

2022-05-10T17:10:59+12:00

Central News - 21 April 2022 If you want to learn how to pan for gold, there are probably no better teachers than a family which has three generations of New Zealand champions and a former world champion. The Ide family of Frankton and Bannockburn were helping out at the Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust (OGHT) Family Fun Day on Sunday, teaching other families how to pan for gold. Stu Ide (72) said he had been gold panning all his life, ‘‘since I was a wee boy’’. ‘‘My parents would bring us here for holidays and we’d camp in the caravan and [...]

Service, final resting place for gold miner

admin2022-05-10T16:51:18+12:00

Central News - 5 May 2022 A funeral for an unknown gold miner whose remains were discovered buried near Cromwell four decades ago is to be held next week — giving him a final resting place more than 140 years after he died. A funeral organised by Alexandra-based funeral director Lynley Claridge, of Affinity Funerals, is planned for May 14. She hopes he will come to symbolise the hardship and bleak optimism of the gold fever that swept Otago from the 1860s which brought vast wealth to many and cost some, including the miner, their lives. Mrs Claridge said she was [...]