The newly restored (by Keith Hinds) 1920's benchseat - a classic simple design of macracarpa slats bolted onto iron legs, has now been installed on the edge of the Cooper's Terrace settlement site. I was there with other volunteers, but selflessly took a back seat, pardon the pun, to let the guys do the heavy lifting. Ha. Some of us then did take the opportunity to be the first to sit on it while we devoured Karen's yummy fruitcake. (see below). It's just a seat . . . . . yet it has taken hours of admin work from me, lining up the funders, negotiating with Department of Conservation, media etc. And couldn't have happened without Keith Hinds, who worked hard on every aspect of the project. Nomad Safaris - Queenstown adventure company - generously paid for the contracted out work on the seat, yet unpaid hours from volunteers were instrumental in making it happen. This is a thing. Volunteers are what keeps the heart of this country beating and this is an example. Worth every ounce of my efforts to see that seat facing the Arrow River, knowing that it will ease many a weary backside as visitors wander through the once bustling remains of the settlement at Cooper's Terrace. The 2023 Season It was wonderful to be back on site at Cooper's Terrace, especially to see the new sign that had been put up by volunteer Alan Sutton - paid for by Bayleys Arrowtown. That sign has been a game-changer, drawing people off the walking track down to us, saying " We had no idea this was here...!" The 4 week long season at Cooper's Terrace this year turned up exciting finds which capped a successful season on site. Despite myself and Keith Hinds, the heritage Stonemason - both finally getting covid, just one week in. We lost 8 days work. Keith had a mild response, I went all out and succumbed to a vicious viral attack featuring hallucinations and delirium and left me the rest of the season weak and basically dead-on-my-feet. Nevertheless, we had work to do, so I made it up on site when I could stand without falling over (all fine now, thank goodness). Luckily Keith could go up and work on stabilising the stonewalls without me at times, although we had lost valuable time and he didn't do all he needed to do. So we will have to return next year to finish off. Working Bees: I put out a flyer to advertise a Working Bee for 3 Sundays, and the Mountain Scene put an article in the paper about me and the project - as they have done every year I've been there - advertising it as well. However the 1st Sunday it bucketed down with rain so obviously cancelled, and the 2nd one was cancelled due to us getting covid. So we just had one Working Bee. But that brought us the Banks family from Cromwell, who were instrumental in finding the other two walls of Hut 7 (making that the largest dwelling so far at 4 metres wide) and have become firm supporters of the project. It's been volunteers like them who have helped us understand how this early gold-mining site flourished here on the banks of the Arrow River for 40 years, and what life was like for the miners and their families. The 2022 Season Ticked All The Boxes The January - March 2022 field study season at Cooper's Terrace had a wobbly start. Despite finding that my house-sit in Frankton was a gorgeous property .... with a cute little red Fiat at my disposal ...... I spent the first 3 weeks still recovering from my 2nd vaccine back in November, so I was not feeling 100% for a while. And then I discovered that I was not allowed by Heritage NZ, to actually dig the ground without an archaeologist standing over me. This was in the small print. So I had to adjust my plans. Luckily my archaeologist pal Shar Briden came over to stay for a few days, and we had an excellent day with volunteers working around Hut 1. But it's clear to me now, that Cooper's Terrace needs a full archaeological team working it and that can happen further down the track. My job is to just find all structures so I can present the site as complete as it was back in the late 1800's. Funnily enough, as soon as I bounced back from that long-drawn-out bout of chronic fatigue, things really started to take off, and success came in waves. I secured reknown heritage stonemason Keith Hines to work for me, and we put together a plan to stabilise all exposed stone walls in summer 2023. I started to meet influential people from Arrowtown, businessmen who have joined the project - some even helping out on site as volunteers. A group of 3 are working on a sign to be put up on the walking track, and will organise funding for it. One volunteer organised for the poplar on Block A to be felled. AND paid for it himself. I had been trying for a coupla years to get someone to take that poplar down, so I was very happy about that. It was impacting on the garden wall..... and Hut 1. On Block B, so much more vegetation has been cleared, and its been heartening to see the enthusiasm and passion for this project in others. I ran working bees each Sunday. Didn't get crowds, but the people who came proved so valuable in a variety of ways, I was very grateful to them for their support. After the 7 weeks I had achieved this: Produced a 1:100 Plan and section to scale; felled the poplar; found a heritage stonemason; cleared heaps more vegetation; identified unusual stonework in the garden wall; got the people of Arrowtown finally involved; got some GPS points done; organised a sign to be installed overlooking the site; found the 7th hut. Amongst other things. And had a blast doing it. Cant wait for next year - wall stabilising with Keith Hinds. I leave you with a sketch recently completed of what parts could be restored. Of course this is just a view of Block A. To see the other hut remains by the river, you would past under the trees across the road.... see it? You are now in Block B. It's even more beautiful there. Seating and signage would complete this part so it can be presented to the public. Unusual stonework, including a rounded castle-like corner, needs further investigation. This pic actually shows the main part of the structures that I believe would be a knockout to get restored. The people of Arrowtown will be considering that very concept the rest of this year. Stay tuned. Volunteers brought enthusiasm, good will and humour. They made the mahi a delight. The seventh hut to be found. According to me. 3 or 4 have yet to be confirmed officially but I hope to do that next year. 2021 Season Wound Down
The last week I was in Arrowtown was winding down week. Camp was dismantled. Last photos taken. Autumn leaves were dropping fast and speckled the ground with gold. I backfilled the big fossiker’s pit dug into the corner of Hut 1. Mike and I walked through the site marking the trees we wanted felled first with spray paint - he would come up to Coopers from time to time throughout the rest of the year and chainsaw them down. These are rather young trees, way more maneagable than the poplars. He can keep an eye on the site that way too. Almost to the last day I was collecting volunteers. That last week I added 3 more names to my 2022 list - all people who would be valuable for different reasons next year, a range of skill sets. It is important to note that none of the volunteers I have would be full-time. People give their time when it is available, and sometimes it’s just one day a week, if that. But I value every contribution. So ...... many thanks to the volunteers who have been part of the Cooper’s Terrace Project 2021 season: Matthew Rose, Mike Cammell and Angus Small. All 3 contributed massively in different ways and gave me unerring support and encouragement to continue the fine work. Which meant a lot. A big thanks to diligencewealth who funded an iPhone and iPad to the Project, thus greatly improving my communication and recording abilities. I’m particularly pleased to have such a good camera on the iPhone so my visual recordings could be of a high standard. I have plenty of mahi to do now I am back home in Tauranga including ongoing work to get the site put on the District Plan, registering as a Charity and nominating the site ( very important, this will state that the site exists, basically, a complicated application I am not looking forward to). So thanks for following. I hope you enjoyed following the Cooper’s Terrace Project on its first full season and will continue to support this work. Kia ora koutou katoa Jan Morrison project manager Coopers Terrace Project 027 242 1869
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So yesterday 26th the on-site meeting finally took place. I met 3 people from the Queenstown Lakes District Council at the river cafe at 11am. From there we walked up to Cooper’s Terrace, a 10 minute walk along the walking track beside the pipeline while I gave a running commentary about my progress so far. They were very impressed by the sight of the ruins from the track as we approached.
2 archaeologists from Heritage NZ were waiting for us already. We walked over the whole site, obviously, and then chewed over the process going forward from my by now partially-dismantled camp. It was very constructive. Here’s the thing. If I want to restore this historical site, I can basically give it a go. All of these guys were supportive. But there clearly will be a blackberry bramble of applications to be made, new consents applied for, forms to fill etc. etc. Im not really up for that. To return next year I have 2 options: 1. I return just to keep clearing vegetation, ignoring the 3 mounds I feel sure are the 3 missing huts. And keep looking for a high-roller to fund the big picture. Or ... 2. I apply for a new AA which means I can dig and uncover those mounds. The catch is, Heritage NZ regulations mean I would have to be “supervised” by a qualified archaeologist. Which may not sound hard, but there is only 1 guy here, he is only part-time, and he’s super busy. The chances he’ll do it, I think are slim. Who else is there? Don’t know if there is anyone else ..... Everyone is supportive of what I plan to do. The issue for me now is..... the massive amount of work required off-site if I continue with the vision to oversee a full restoration. Right now I am brain-tired and it all sounds like too much. I will think on it once I’ve recovered when the synapses are connecting again. Ever since the site was vandalised, and my gloves stolen, I’ve been concerned that the lowlifes would come back. So I’ve been returning to the site each evening to do a quick patrol. Last night...? Too late. The big steel toolbox, lent me by a local volunteer, was stolen. It was full of tools bought with donations, mostly from my friends. Including my own tools, some of which are irreplaceable. All gone. Distressing. The police are now onto it. Heritage NZ too.
But I’ve found 3 more huts! I now know the layout of the settlement. So let’s move on and savour that for a day.... or a week.... or, I dunno...... forever...? So much for feeling safe. On Sunday 21st, yesterday, I was waiting for Mike to pick me up by the Bush Creek cafe by the river, when I got into conversation with a vagrant guy I’d seen around town who pans for gold all day. He was raving about kettles and bits of wood being nailed to trees and I realised with a sinking feeling that the guy had been through my camp. Mike arrived and we drove up. 4-5 minutes up the rugged road to Macetown (4-wheel drive essential). He’d got into the lock-box, he may have been trying that combination lock for days. He took my good gloves. But the worst thing was he’d dug big holes around the site, including a huge hole in a corner of Hut 1. Police and Heritage NZ have been notified.
not pleasant, but not enough to dampen our excitement at realising we had found more huts. Because it wasn’t just that small hut, Hut 4 by the road riverside, but I now understood the layout of settlement. Beside Hut 1 is Hut 2 and Hut 3. We’d been walking around and over them all this time. As is the way with archaeology. so I got my trowel out to confirm this. Very tight grass covers these mounds. Hard going. But within an hour I had the lovely straight line of a robust wall 40mm thick. Came home feeling pretty happy. Told the local journalist Scoop we need to go National with this. We’ll be getting together this week. Maybe when the council visit on Friday, and hopefully, Heritage NZ. We were right. I can confidently say it IS a hut. How did I work that out?
The next time I was working in the area of Mound 1, a couple of days later, I started clearing back the surface matting of roots and soil on the inner east wall side to see if I could find a clear clue that this was a hut. And I found it pretty early on: a row of evenly laid stones below. And during the brushing down of the stones so I had it nice and pristine for the photos, yet another piece of tin started to emerge. But this I left there. I knew I did not yet have the authority to dig further once I had established I had a hut, and no more work would be done here this season. So exciting. My first significant find for the season, with little more than 2 weeks left to go....! So satisfying..... and yes, something of a relief. I covered the stones with foliage, wondering whether it would stay protected from damage after I’d gone. After all, it is right by the road to Macetown, albeit dropped at a lower level and for the most part screened by trees and vegetation. But most people around here are good - hikers/nature enthusiasts who only pass through Cooper’s Terrace. Unless they stop to look around the exposed ruins on the other side of the road. I took my tools back to camp, locked them in Angus’s big steel lockbox, hoisted the backpack and set off home. I was so slow to get this blog up and running I neglected to include Artifact 1 so here it is. Found 14.02.21. A surface find, so therefore out of context, but found lying on the outer side of the east wall of Hut 1, still important. It is an implement of tin sheeting, fashioned into a cylindrical shape, wider at one end, and bound by wire at the other. Possibly connected a tool to a handle. The making of it intriguing. You can see where a tool like a big nail has been used to twist the wire tight. It’s cool.
It’s Artifact 1. Last Sunday volunteer Mike came up and spent the day on-site. Mike comes all the way up from Kingston, at the foot of Lake Whakatipu, as passionate as me about Cooper’s Terrace. He’d already done some weed-eating and spraying before I got there later in the morning. We walked over the site as we usually do, discussing the possibilities of discovery and how the miners lived here, Mike dropping fascinating pearls of knowledge from his reading of gold-mining communities like this one. We were at the area by the road that had been cleared of trees so the poplars could be felled. Still no sign of the Fire Brigade to do this mahi, but I’m confident it will happen in time. Mike told me how he shifted a pile of tree trunks to the side and noticed a mound of stone that looked suspiciously 3-sided. It’s so great to have someone on the same page, who is careful and understands the process. It could just be stone tumble, but we agreed, if it was a hut, then it was in danger of being obliterated, being right in the path of machinery, stomping boots and falling trees. I am not allowed to dig, under the Archaeological Authority I have....I am only to clear the vegetation. But I knew from my experience on digs overseas what to do. If it was a hut then I had to protect it. And I had to try and find a vital clue that would confirm our suspicions. I didn’t know when the fire brigade boys would turn up so had to act fast. After we had cleared away the periwinkle, i set to with my trowel around the edges and an inner corner. Very quickly glass came into view, then tin. Then more glass and more tin. I photographed every stage of the process carefully. Bits of old tin sheeting are commonplace throughout the site, but I eventually removed a lovely intact squat clear glass bottle .... Artifact 2 ....... for its protection. I then covered the site with foliage until my return. Still no wiser as to whether it was a hut, but when I got home and looked over old photos, it got exciting.
> “The careful steady process of clearing back the vegetation from the gold-mining ruins continues. I have a month more to go of this work, and the focus is now on get the poplar trees down. Some of them are impacting badly on the collapsing walls, pushing the stones out of their alignment. I’ve organised the Arrowtown Fire Brigade to take down 5 of them to start with, and even that is a massive job. It’s done voluntarily in their spare time and they haven’t managed to get a crew up to the site yet but I’m assured they haven’t forgotten about it. Everyone is just so busy around here. Volunteers are thin on the ground ...... people are working hard at their own jobs to survive, COVID having taking quite a hit here. Still, volunteer Angus came up last week and cleared a path with his chainsaw for them to get their heavy machinery in.
> So it’s a bit of a waiting game. Heritage NZ are coming up on 26th for a site visit, and there will be some decisions made then. I have made no further progress on securing corporate funder for a full restoration of the site, but we’re not giving up. As long as, of course, we can raise enough from donations to keep going back and getting the site cleared of all vegetation. Volunteer Mike built me a lovely shelf for the camp...... > We are here for the long-haul....!” So this photo below shows you the remains of what I call Hut 1. I found this hut deteriorating under the blackberry thicket, completely forgotten as the entire settlement was, in 2009. I knew the hut was there as all us kids did who roamed the hills during the holidays. I have fond memories of running barefoot across the soft periwinkle carpet to the doorway. The corrugated iron roof was still there on a wooden frame, although 1 sheet in the SE corner was gone. Behind the hut stretches the remains of a substantial garden wall, featuring and unusual entranceway. This entranceway I have established the exact potion of using archive photos, and is a compelling reason for this whole area of the settlement to be rebuilt, restored, and be given a new life.
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Jan MorrisonProject Manager of an archeological dig of a 1800s European mining settlement near Arrowtown, Central Otago. Archives
April 2021
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