The story of Gilchrist’s Store is one of endurance, community and surviving against the odds. For nearly 125 years, the store has been a cornerstone in Oturehua — and the wider Maniototo — servicing communities and providing a central hub for rural folks. It has survived World Wars 1 [...]

A piece of Cromwell history has been given a secure future with its ownership being finalised. Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust chairman Warwick Hawker said the trust had completed the purchase of the former Methodist church at the corner of Donegal and Erris Sts. "It’s been quite a long project." [...]

Otago Daily Times, 22 May 2023 The remains of 12 early European and Chinese settlers were reinterred in Drybread Cemetery, Central Otago, on Saturday, marking an important final step for Southern Cemeteries Archaeology Project. Since 2016, a team of archaeologists led by Dr Peter Petchey and Prof Hallie Buckley [...]

Otago Daily Times, 18 May 2023 The restoration of Central Otago landmark Earnscleugh Castle inched forward yesterday with a resource consent hearing, in Alexandra, regarding the plastering of the building. The Central Otago District Council hearings panel, which was comprised of Crs Neil Gillespie, Martin McPherson and Ian Cooney, heard [...]

Otago Daily Times 11 May, 2023 A Council planner has given the thumbs-up to the planned renovations to the Earnscleugh Station homestead. A Central Otago District Council hearing is set to take place in Alexandra next Monday about resource consents being sought by the owners of the homestead. Marco Creemers [...]

Otago Daily Times 4 May 2023 Stories of the last time Waikaia hosted the finish of the Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust Cavalcade are still being told, trail boss Bill Butler says. In 2024 the cavalcade will converge on the Northern Southland town. Mr Butler, of Waikaka, is one of [...]