Mike's great writing

In, in 1861, a man called Gabriel Read discovered Gold near the Otago town of Lawrence. The news spread quickly, attracting people from as far as China and California. Soon, Gabriel's Gully, where the first Gold was discovered, was a sea of tents, housing the many miners who hoped to get wealthy.

However, it was often not the miners who got rich. Pubs, Motels and General Stores got truckloads of money from the miners, from selling things like beer, food, and mining supplies.

Gold was also discovered in other places around Otago, the West Coast, and the North Island, all pushed up by the Alpine Fault. Dunedin, known as the Gateway to the Goldfields, became very wealthy, and became the capital of New Zealand, but the capital moved again, after the Goldrush.

The Miners lived in tough conditions, often freezing at night. The Chinese Miners were discriminated against for their skin and race. They sometimes stayed back when other miners had gone to get the leftover Gold.

Many men drowned when crossing rivers.

Marks they made on the ground are still around today. When my family and I went tramping to Bullendale and Dynamo huts, we found fields of mint, wild strawberries, mine shafts, old mining equipment, and glass in the rivers made smooth by all the time they had spent sitting with water going over them. What is left of old Chinese mining huts are still on what used to be the banks of the two rivers that are now part of Lake Dunstan.

-Michael Evans