The Pioneers of Arrowtown

Rugging up on one of these cold and frosty mornings really makes you feel for the pioneers of Arrowtown, who endured many a winter before the days of under floor heating and modern insulation.

Local historian and guest writer Karen Reid gives us an insight into what our gold-mining forebears went through to lay the historical foundations of the town.

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The discovery of gold in the Arrow River in 1862 saw a township initially known as Fox’s spring up on its banks, although extensive flooding in 1863 made early residents decide to build further up. It was at this stage that more substantial permanent structures were built, including the much-loved row of little miners cottages in Arrowtown’s main street that date back to the 1860s and 70s.

For many years houses also lined the other side of the street but by the 1920s most had either burnt down or been moved. With open fires and timber houses built so close together, devastating fires were common. It’s believed that the existing cottage known as ‘Granny’s Cottage’(occupied by Dalman Architects) was moved from the other side of the street when the original cottage on that site burnt down, explaining it’s so close to its neighbour.

Initially many of the cottages were commercial premises. What’s now ‘The Tap’ was the first Colonial Bank, its neighbour was Grubers Chemist, and the old Council Chambers (stone) building was originally ‘The Odd Fellows Hall Lodge’.

Over the years the cottages have been ‘home’ to many generations of Arrowtowners. An open water race once ran down the length of the street with taps, to which were attached mugs. Collecting water from the taps gave people the chance to catch up with neighbours.

The old lamps that still light the street once glowed with kerosene. The lamp lighter would rest his ladder on the little protrusions at the top of each lamp while lighting the lamps, followed around by local children.

Author Josephine Trail, in her book about growing up in Arrowtown in the early 1900s (Child of the Arrow), remembers spending New Years Eve with a friend in one of the Buckingham Street cottages. Woken the next morning by a scream, she found that ‘first footers’ had moved the outhouse from behind the cottage to ‘slap-bang’ up against the cottage front door.

The trees in The Avenue were planted in 1867 and the plaque beneath the first tree commemorates the event. On that day two-year-old Mary Cotter watched the seedling being planted and workmen said if she’d skip around it they would name the tree after her. Mary’s long dead, but the tree still stands and locals say skipping around it brings good luck.

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