Earnscleugh Tailings

Marshall Road, EARNSCLEUGH

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The Mata-au / Clutha River was a significant ara tawhito for seasonal activities of Māori communities. Consequently traditional, cultural, historical and spiritual sites for Māori are embedded in the landscape through the numerous nohoanga, mahinga kai, pā kāinga and tauraka waka along the length of the awa. At Earnscleugh, on the banks of the Mata-au / Clutha River near Alexandra in Otago, mounds of stones and gravel that block out the sky create a desolate landscape that shows the massive scale of gold dredging undertaken during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Earnscleugh Tailings have outstanding historic, technological and archaeological significance, representing the evolution of mining (and specifically dredging) and its associated technologies from the early 1860s through to the 1960s. In 1862, Miners Horatio Hartley and Christopher Reilly walked away from a beach on the Clutha River / Mata-au with their fortunes made – lodging 1000 ounces of gold with the astonished gold receiver. As thousands of miners followed in their wake and goldfields became worked out, miners looked for new ways to extract gold. Dredging was one of these new technologies. While spoon and bucket dredges worked the Clutha River / Mata-au in the 1860s, it was not until the 1880s when Charles Sew Hoy developed the steam-powered bucket dredge that dredging boomed in New Zealand. Over two hundred dredges mined Otago’s river and old river channels, recovering tens of thousands of ounces of gold, and transforming the landscape. From 1894, the new tailings elevator, installed on the rear of the dredge allowing tailings to be deposited well clear of the dredge, enabled the dredge to float and work its way through dry land carrying its pond with it. The tailings elevator made ‘dry-land’ dredging possible, facilitating dredging on the low terraces next to the Clutha River / Mata-au, like those at Earnscleugh Flat. Dredges operated on Earnscleugh Flat from the 1890s through to 1963. The scale of the dredging was enormous – these are huge machines, churning through the river gravels, transformed the Flat into an eerie landscape of tailings, a huge snail trail of gravels marking the path of the dredges. Several dredges operated successfully between the Fraser River and Sandy Point: the Earnscleugh No. 1 (1896-1909), the Earnscleugh No. 2 (1899-1916), the Earnscleugh No. 3 (1903-1923), the Earnscleugh No. 5 (1908-1922) and the Glasgow (1901-1913) operated at Sandy Point. There was a modest revival in the dredging industry as the price of gold rose during the 1930s. The Clutha Dredging Company’s giant dredge, the Alexandra, worked into the 1960s. It was the last dredge operating in Otago. Earnscleugh tailings epitomise the effect of dredging on the landscape. The dredges left behind them a landscape reflecting the different dredging technologies. The value of this landscape was recognised in 1990 when part of the dredge tailings were included in a historic reserve. In 2015, the tailings are alongside the Alexandra riverside walk, provide visitors with insight into the historic operations of these significant dredges.

Earnscleugh Tailings, Earnscleugh. Aerial view of flat paddock dredge tailings – with the Clutha River /Mata-Au on the right. CC BY 4.0 | Kevin Jones | Department of Conservation
Earnscleugh Tailings, Earnscleugh. Tailings close to the Clutha River /Mata-Au | H Bauchop | 20/05/2015 | Heritage New Zealand
Earnscleugh Tailings, Earnscleugh. Dredge buckets and pipes within the historic reserve | H Bauchop | 20/05/2015 | Heritage New Zealand

Location

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List Entry Information

Overview

Detailed List Entry

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 1

Access

Able to Visit

List Number

9267

Date Entered

5th May 2021

Date of Effect

6th June 2021

City/District Council

Central Otago District

Region

Otago Region

Extent of List Entry

Extent includes the land described as Pt Sec 206 Blk X Leaning Rock Survey District (NZ Gazette, 1990, p. 2619); Sec 1 SO 22853 (NZ Gazette, 1990 p. 2530); Lot 2 DP 26987 (NZ Gazette 2005 p. 2650, RT OT18D/1004); Sec 179 Blk X Leaning Rock Survey District (RT 18D/1005, land transfer authorised NZ Gazette 1999 p. 2609), Otago Land District and the archaeological sites and abandoned mining equipment associated with Earnscleugh Tailings thereon. The extent of List entry excludes the Operating Easement Sec 2 SO 342094, Legal River, Otago Land District.

Legal description

Pt Sec 206 Blk X Leaning Rock Survey District (NZ Gazette, 1990, p. 2619); Sec 1 SO 22853 (NZ Gazette, 1990 p. 2530); Lot 2 DP 26987 (NZ Gazette 2005 p. 2650, RT OT18D/1004); Sec 179 Blk X Leaning Rock Survey District (RT 18D/1005, land transfer authorised NZ Gazette 1999 p. 2609), Otago Land District.

Location Description

Access is from Marshall Road, 3 kilometres from Alexandra off Earnscleugh Road. Walking access is available down the true right of the Fraser River and crossing the foot bridge on The River Track.

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