Murphy’s Flat, near Macraes Flat in Otago, a windswept isolated area set close to the vast modern open cast gold mining, is a reminder of the small scale alluvial gold mining that began the gold rush to this region in the mid-1860s.
Murphy’s Flat is a large area, some 600 by 1000 metres in extent, which has been extensively worked for alluvial gold. The flat consists of a series of linear mounds of tailings, most probably built up as Murphy’s Creek was moved from side to side of the flat as the ground was worked. There are also several areas of pits and mounds that may be surviving evidence of some of the earliest working on the flat. Around the hillsides surrounding the flat there is extensive evidence of ground sluicing, along with water races, dams and reservoirs. Most of the side gullies contain workings, some very intensive. Though some areas have been damaged by ploughing the whole system is remarkably intact.
Several hut sites are located adjacent to the flat. A sod-walled enclosure and a reservoir are located close by in an area identified by an 1891 survey map as being the location of four ‘Chinaman’s huts’. Local tradition recalls this as the location of the ‘Leper’s Hut’, the home of a Chinese man, Hui Shing Tsoch (or Sin Tack), afflicted by leprosy who lived many years in isolation before dying in the hut.
To the south, Murphy’s Creek runs out of the flat through a narrow channel lined on one side with stacked stone, probably to maintain adequate fall from the flat. An adequate tailrace was as important as an adequate water supply to alluvial mining, to maintain water flow to work the ground, save the gold and wash away the tailings. A small area of quartz workings are located east of the flat, consisting of several adits and a small amount of surface working.
Murphy’s Flat is an important archaeological landscape. It is unusual to find linear mounds of tailings to such an extent across a wide flat ground. The archaeological features are in good condition and provide evidence of the types of mining systems used in the area. The Otago gold rushes were vital to the development of Otago, with Murphy’s Flat one memorial to that outstandingly important period in New Zealand’s history, recalling both Chinese and European experiences.
In 2007 Murphy’s Flat was gazetted as a historic reserve and is vested in the Department of Conservation.
The following text is from a report July 2001:
The history of Murphy's Flat is not well known, and there is some confusion in the documentation prior to 1865 as until then the name 'Murphy's Flat' appeared to have also been applied to the area now known as Macrae's Flat.
It is likely that gold was first discovered at the current Murphy's Flat in May 1862, with a rush in about November 1862, although there is some uncertainty as to the exact location of the sites mentioned in sources . Maps produced in 1867 show that Murphy's Flat had been worked for gold by this stage. By the late 1860s Murphy's Flat appears to have become something of a backwater.
Mining occurred again in the 1890s, this time by Chinese miners, in a typical goldfields scenario whereby Chinese miners methodically re-worked ground that European miners had earlier hurriedly dug over.
By the early years of the twentieth century Murphy's Flat appears to have become a virtually deserted location apart from a Chinese 'leper' living isolated in a hut on the Flat. An application in 1899 for a Prospecting Dredging Area on the flat appears to have come to nothing. As a result the tailings from the pre-1900 alluvial workings, all likely to be hand-worked, have remained untouched.
Murphy’s Flat is a large area, some 600 by 1000 metres in extent, which has been extensively worked for alluvial gold. The flat consists of a series of linear mounds of tailings, most probably built up as Murphy’s Creek was moved from side to side of the flat as the ground was worked. There are also several areas of pits and mounds that may be surviving evidence of some of the earliest working on the flat. Around the hillsides surrounding the flat there is extensive evidence of ground sluicing, along with water races, dams and reservoirs. Most of the side gullies contain workings, some very intensive. Though some areas have been damaged by ploughing the whole system is remarkably intact.
Several hut sites are located adjacent to the flat. A sod-walled enclosure and a reservoir are located close by in an area identified by an 1891 survey map as being the location of four ‘Chinaman’s huts’. Local tradition recalls this as the location of the ‘Leper’s Hut’, the home of a Chinese man, Hui Shing Tsoch (or Sin Tack), afflicted by leprosy who lived many years in isolation before dying in the hut.
To the south, Murphy’s Creek runs out of the flat through a narrow channel lined on one side with stacked stone, probably to maintain adequate fall from the flat. An adequate tailrace was as important as an adequate water supply to alluvial mining, to maintain water flow to work the ground, save the gold and wash away the tailings. A small area of quartz workings are located east of the flat, consisting of several adits and a small amount of surface working.
Murphy’s Flat is an important archaeological landscape. It is unusual to find linear mounds of tailings to such an extent across a wide flat ground. The archaeological features are in good condition and provide evidence of the types of mining systems used in the area. The Otago gold rushes were vital to the development of Otago, with Murphy’s Flat one memorial to that outstandingly important period in New Zealand’s history, recalling both Chinese and European experiences.
In 2007 Murphy’s Flat was gazetted as a historic reserve and is vested in the Department of Conservation.
The following text is from a report July 2001:
The history of Murphy's Flat is not well known, and there is some confusion in the documentation prior to 1865 as until then the name 'Murphy's Flat' appeared to have also been applied to the area now known as Macrae's Flat.
It is likely that gold was first discovered at the current Murphy's Flat in May 1862, with a rush in about November 1862, although there is some uncertainty as to the exact location of the sites mentioned in sources . Maps produced in 1867 show that Murphy's Flat had been worked for gold by this stage. By the late 1860s Murphy's Flat appears to have become something of a backwater.
Mining occurred again in the 1890s, this time by Chinese miners, in a typical goldfields scenario whereby Chinese miners methodically re-worked ground that European miners had earlier hurriedly dug over.
By the early years of the twentieth century Murphy's Flat appears to have become a virtually deserted location apart from a Chinese 'leper' living isolated in a hut on the Flat. An application in 1899 for a Prospecting Dredging Area on the flat appears to have come to nothing. As a result the tailings from the pre-1900 alluvial workings, all likely to be hand-worked, have remained untouched.
