Comments were made about why such a programme was proposed for such an inhospitable time of year and though such excuses as ‘necessity’ and ‘waiting for the auditors to get finished with the accounts…’ were muted the real reason was that Terry just wanted you all to appreciate what the miners had to put up with!

Having said that we were very lucky with the weather and we didn’t have to sit in a drafty old calico tent for the duration of the meeting with only Dampa and boiled mutton for lunch.

No! The Lawrence Golf Club rooms were perfectly suited for our purposes and some kind soul had turned the heaters on well before we arrived. The lovely ladies of St. Patricks Women’s Fellowship supplied us with a sumptuous morning tea and the AGM went smoothly with all current committee members being re-elected plus the addition of Steve Clark from Bannockburn. For full minutes of the AGM please click here.

The AGM was immediately followed by a hearty lunch thanks to the same ladies mentioned above then Jim Ng gave us a talk and slide presentation about the old China Town of  Lawrence. Jim is a great speaker delivering well researched facts with his own theories and views on how things ‘probably were’. We then went down to the site of the old Chinese settlement and had a look around – apart from the two very well preserved buildings you could clearly make out where the main street used to be and some house sections adjacent to it.

From here we drove in convoy to Gabriel’s Gully to meet up with Ernie McCraw – local historian and recently published author about Gabriel Reid. Earnie took us on a very interesting walk around the recently up-graded DOC track that circumnavigates the ‘head’ of Gabriel’s Gully. Old explosives magazines, slag channels, water races, batteries, mines and shafts were all re-discovered as the day got progressively warmer and brighter! (Completely opposite to what the weather-man predicted.)

From Gabriel’s Gully we took a short detour up to the final site (it had two previous ones) of Blue Spur township for a bit of ‘heritage prospecting’.

While all this was going on a small sub group of slightly less energetic members were given a tour of the local ‘Tuapeka Vintage Club’ and then onto the Lawrence Museum – apparently all very well received.

After, just long enough to make ourselves presentable for dinner, we converged again upon the  golf club rooms for a truly memorable dining experience thanks to the good folk at ‘The Wild Walnut’ cafe (and catering).  The wonderfully accommodating hospitality of all those we came in contact with in Lawrence (including our accommodation providers) was without reproach.

Sunday morning dawned bright and calm again snubbing the weather mans dire predictions. After a generous breakfast for all at the Campground we filled up cars and drove to the Canton Battery near Lake Mahinerangi to meet Dave Still for our morning’s entertainments. And how entertaining it was!! When Dave pointed out to Terry over the phone that folk would get their trousers wet walking through the tussocks Terry imagined the bottom of one’s trousers just above the top of your hiking boots –but no! These were ‘un browsed’ tussocks in the Otago Provincial Quartz Mining Co scenic reserve and not only would have your trousers got wet but all of your shirt and possibly your hat too!! Very fortunately for us the tussocks were dry but there were still many wet obstacles to be negotiated before we got to our destination at an old water wheel slowly sinking into the bog. As most of us waded back through the snow tussock we were met with good hearted banter from another group who took the seemingly ‘easier’ option of skirting around an old water race where they could look down on our position. On returning to our vehicles they tried to assert that they, in fact, had the more perilous of the route options because they also had Prickly Spaniards to contend with (oh, and after 100years or so apparently parts of the water race had eroded away making for very steep traversing).

After a  look at the ‘slowly falling over’ Canton Battery we made our way back up the road pausing a couple of times to look at features in gullies that Dave could relate to his excellent volumes of old photos on the area.

The morning came to a ‘sooner than expected’ conclusion due to the onset of foul weather threatening. We did have time for a look around the old Waipori cemetery (our first recorded casualty at Gallipoli came from Waipori) and huddled behind vehicles for lunch, to peruse the photo albums and to add our collective bits of knowledge to Dave’s database on the families who lived in the Waipori area.

Thanks very much to our generous guides  Jim Ng,  Ernie McCraw and Dave Still. Thanks also to the many folk of Lawrence who made us very welcome and thanks to the members who came along.

All the best.

Terry Davis

Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust

Cavalcade and Events (like AGM’s and field weekends) coordinator.

AGM Agenda

2011 AGM minutes.

Balance Sheet

Notes to Balance sheet

OGHT profit and loss

Cavalcade profit an loss

Minutes from 2010 AGM

Presidents Report 2011

The ODT have a good story about it click here

We had a good AGM in Alex back in June:

• long time Trail Boss and committee member Don Morrison was elevated to Honorary life member status
• Excellent written works were presented to the Trust from Valmai Beeby ‘The Mareburn Reefs’ (prepared by her late husband Richard Beeby) and from Ed Dwyer ‘Historic Shelter Sheds and Route Guides on the Old Man Range’
• All current committee members were re-elected. They are Martin Anderson (president), Nola Gollop (treasurer) and committee members Bruce McMillan, Mike Floate, Kay Adam, Dave Neill, Don Morrison, John Cook.

The AGM was followed by a very interesting bus tour around some historic pubs over-nighting in Naseby with a bit of Curling.

Next Field Weekend 16^th and 17^th October

Fancy a weekend in Roxburgh? On the Saturday we meet at the Commercial Hotel for tea and scones before heading out with David Hamilton to explore the dams and water races associated with the Teviot Power Scheme (one of the original power schemes in Otago forged from the water reservoirs and races originally set up for gold mining). On the Sunday morning we will be having a tour of the old (and not-so-old) diggings and information at Stu Edgecumbe’s mining area followed by a guided tour of a couple of Gorge Creek points of interest by local historian Ed Dwyer before lunch at the Shingle Creek Tavern… Fantastic scenery,  knowledgeable interpreters and good camaraderie to be had walking in the hills and sharing dinner/breakfast together… click here to down-load a registration form http://goldfieldsinc.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/field-weekend-to-roxburgh-2010.pdf .

Cavalcade up-date

We are in the middle of a review of our safety plan – it’s all common sense, nothing to concern yourselves with but there will be a mention about kicking horses – something like “If you have a horse who goes out of its way to kick another horse or person it is not welcome on the Cavalcade – leave it at home or be prepared to get kicked off the trail.”

We are feeling pretty bad about the leather badges that stained some of your shirts from Wanaka. Unfortunately the outfit that made them and sewed them on has gone bust so there won’t be a lot of compensation from them! To get a handle on the size of the situation we are asking those who are unable to wear their shirt to mail it to us. I would just like to reiterate that this was not a Swanndri problem  – their shirts are awesome and we can all get 20% off all their gear just by going to their website www.swanndri.co.nz and entering the promo code ‘cavalcade’.

Dates for 2011 are confirmed as 26th Feb to 5th March (some trails are starting later but we all finish together on the 5th.)

http://cavalcade.co.nz/2010/07/29/latest-cavalcade-up-date/ see here for the previous newsletter with trail start points in it.
For those of you who aren’t already, It is recommended you become a member of the Goldfields Trust to increase your chances of securing your trail of choice. Trust members get priority when the registration forms are coming back in and a trail is getting full. This year nearly all the trails reached their capacity. Click here to renew membership. http://goldfieldstrust.org.nz/2009/06/12/otago-goldfields-heritage-trust-membership/
Thanks very much for your support. I hope to see some of you in Roxburgh next month and many of you in Oamaru next year!

Terry Davis

Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust

03 445 0111

021 284 6844

www.goldfieldstrust.org.nz

www.cavalcade.co.nz

PS, if you’re talking with your mates who you believe should be getting these newsletters also can you please check they are receiving them. If not get them to contact me and I’ll update our database. Good on ya

One issue in particular popped up and we think it’s probably best to give you all a heads-up sooner rather than later.

Some trails are getting a few too many back-up drivers which meant some riders/wagoners missed out on a trail this year. We would like you to consider if a personal back-up driver is absolutely necessary (all trails have a system of transporting your gear and feed from place to place), if it is then could you possibly ‘group up‘ and share someone else’s driver? Some trail bosses will be setting minimal limits on back-up drivers.

Dates for 2011 are confirmed as 26th Feb to 5th March (some trails are starting later but we all finish together on the 5th.

Here’s a bit of an idea (not yet set in stone!) about where the trails will be starting from and how many days on each. You can click on the place name below for a google map if you are unsure of where they are – if the link doesn’t work you can easily search each start location on google maps .

Trail Boss:            Start:            Duration:

Stu Moore,  Stanton Station, Kimbell – 7 days Riding

Alistair Gibson,  Ribbonwood, Omarama – 6 Days Riding (restricted back-up drivers)

Steve Vickers, Shag Point - 4-5days Riding

Tony Roderique, Dunback – 6-7 days Riding (Clover leaf trail)

Alice Stewart,  Mt Cook - 7days Riding (very limited numbers, unassisted)

Chris Bayne, Near Kyeburn – 7 days. Light Wagons (restricted back-up drivers)

Tony Cumberbeach, Moeraki – 6 days Heavy Wagons

Sandra Cain, Glencoe station (somewhere near ‘the Dasher)- 4 days Walking

Don Morrison, Mt Dasher Station. 3 days. Walking

Peter Dymock, Kyeburn – 3days Walking (unassisted, very limited numbers)

Morley Williams, Dansey’s Pass Holiday Park - 3 days Walking, (Clover leaf trail).

If you haven’t already done so it is recommended you become a member of the Goldfileds Trust to increase your chances of securing your trail of choice. Trust members get priority when the registration forms are coming back in and a trail is getting full.

You can become a member on-line or by down loading a PDF from here http://goldfieldstrust.org.nz/2009/06/12/otago-goldfields-heritage-trust-membership/

Thanks very much for your interest. I hope to see many of you in Oamaru next year.

Terry Davis

Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust

P O Box 91

Cromwell 9342

03 445 0111

021 284 6844

www.goldfieldstrust.org.nz

www.cavalcade.co.nz