Two of the most famous strikes in New Zealand gold mining history were made in Gabriel's Gully in 1861 and Skippers Cannon in 1862.
It was 20 May 1861, Gabriel Read found gold in a gully in Otago, a spot that was to become internationally famous, and would drawn miners from all over the world. He was obviously a fair-minded man, because he was kindly enough to place an ad in the Otago Witness, letting everyone know what he had found. By the 6th of July The Witness was writing
Gold, gold, gold, is the universal subject of conversation. The fever is running to such a height that if it continues, there will scarcely be a man left in the town.
Soon the five kilometres of what was now known as Gabriel's Gully was packed with those come to seek their fortune. And almost overnight towns sprang into existence; ones made of canvas and corrugated iron. By September there were over 4,000 miners at the gully. They were divided amongst two settlements, one halfway up the valley, the other at the foot of the rise called Blue Spur. They were not pleasant places to be through, one miner describing the situation as 'plenty of gold and not much tucker' (food).
Their usual fare was boiled bacon, damper (made of flour and water) washed down with tea. And after dinner, the miners would amuse themselves, with card games, and playing musical instruments; trying to mitigate the boredom and misery. But it was never the less a climate in which social boundaries dissolved. Like mines everywhere, you might find a duke's son rubbing shoulders with an escaped criminal.
