Sacred Heart School from Dunedin visited the museum in search of gold! Following the gold fields trail from Dunedin through Lawerence, Alexandra, Cromwell and finally Arrowtown students literally followed in the footsteps of the miners!

Student survived Miss Gray, were locked in gaol!, visited the Chinese huts, become 'gold detectives' in the Museum and finally panned for gold!

We hope you enjoyed your visit. please post us a message on this blog!

Yesterday over 40 Gore High geography students visited the Lakes District Museum and were given an epxert talk by the Director, David Clarke. Looking at the changes in Arrowtown over time, the impact of people and tourism in the area David explained how Arrowtown is leading the way in preserving its hertiage.

Students were also heard stories of the hardships faced by the Chinese miners during their walk around the village.

We hope you found your visit worthwhile and would be great if you could post us a blog on this site!

Yesterday Portobello School showed their expert panning skills with all students striking it rich in the Arrow River!! Well done!

As well as great panning students learnt about the history of the area through artefacts, spent time in the 'old gaol', visited the Chinese village and stepped back in time to the 1880s with Miss Gray.

Here on a 'Peninsula to Peak' camp students have seen how the landscape changes as you go from the coastline to the inland Lake area. Luckily, now we can get a bus or car to experience the journey but 130 years ago you would have probably walked!!

Portobello we hope you enjoyed your time at the Lakes District Museum - write a blog to tell us about it!

Yesterday saw Year 5 & 6 from Heriot School check out the Chinese village among other things on their visit to the Lakes District Museum.

Student saw the 'historically protected' long drop!, Ah Lum's store as well as many other huts from the Chinese miners time in Arrowtown. The Chinese were invited to the Otago Goldfields by the government in 1865 and mined here until into the 1900s. As well as mining many Chinese grew vegetables (helped to grow from some very 'special' fertilizer!) and sold these to people in Arrowtown.

Heriot also survived Miss Gray....! and were expert gold panners with most students finding some 'colour' and gold in their pans!!

We hope you had a good time...please tell us about your visit on this blog!

......life in the 1880s! This week the Lakes District Museum saw two seperate visits from different classes at St Theresa's school in Invercargill. We had a great time with you learning about life in the past and hope you all enjoyed yourself!

Wendy who took the class on Tuesday had this to report - "What a super smart bunch of children you all were. Some of your questions and answers took my breath away. Your teacher had taught you lots obviously but several children told me that they got their information by reading 'Horrible Histories! Your teacher told me you were avid readers, I could tell. I hope Miss Grey didn't scare you too much, she's not so bad really.Well I know you will be busy digging long drops and washing your clothes in the local river so I will sign off."

Rachel who had the class on Friday was very impressed with some expert 'digging' - lots of you must already help your parents in the garden!! She also thought you all could probably cope very well as 1880s students...as long as you remember the number one rule "silence is golden!". During the 'hands on artefacts' timeline activity some of your knowledge was amazing! and let's hope you all have plenty of good luck now you have skipped around the Mary Cotter tree!

We are already looking forward to seeing you next year. Post us a message on this blog! Kia kaha.

Hawea Flat Senior school experienced some of the 'quirky' features of the Lakes District Museum during their visit. The lavatory surprised many!!

Students rotated around three activities learning about the history of the Wakatipu area, the influence of the gold miners and the Chinese and finally panning for gold. Students proved to be very good panners and most went home with gold in their pockets - well done!

Hawea Flat we hope you enjoyed your visit to us and look forward to hearing about your visit on this blog!

This week saw the Lakes District Museum welcome it's first Geography students! Year 13 students from Columba College in Dunedin spent a morning session tracking the temporal and spacial variations of tourism in Queenstown as well as looking at the impact of tourists in the Lakes District.

Using maps student plotted changes in tourism over time; these changes have been largely influenced by increased technology and infrastructure.

Tourism is an ever growing phenomenon in the area. It was first pioneered by early settlers in the late 1800s and with the recent announcement about the expansion of the airport it looks set to continue into the future....

Columba College we hope you enjoyed your visit to us, please post us a blog about it!

Over the last two days Waitmate history students have scoured our archives for a range of information for NCEA AS3.1 and 3.2.

With an emphasis on independent research and time management students had to make sure they gave themselves enough time to look at a range of archives while still managing to explore the museum for even further primary and secondary sources of information.

Students investigated a range of topics from leisure, to mining methods to health care (or lack of!). We hope you have plenty of information and please post on this blog about how you got on!

For the last two days Darfield Year 13 History students immersed themselves in the Lakes District Museum's archives finding information for AS 3.1 & 3.2.

Students had a wide range of focusing questions from women, to the Chinese, to the impact immigrants had on the economy. Students learnt the legacy of some of the prominent business people such as Bendix Hallenstein (founder of clothing company Hallensteins).

One of the bonuses of a two day visit is that students were not so rushed and they managed to explore some of Arrowtown's historic sites such as the Miners' cottages and Chinese village.

We hope you have lots of valuable information Darfield and please let us know how you found your visit!

Yesterday saw Sacred Heart school from Invercargill step up to the challenge of life for a 1880s child. Working in a team of five, students had a series of activities to complete including hand washing with wash boards, making butter and rag mats, digging a long drop, panning for gold and then cashing it in for £ to spend at Al Lum's store in the Chinese village.

The first group back in just over 75 minutes won the challenge! But it was very close with only 10 minutes seperating the five groups! Excellent work Sacred Heart.

As well as the challenge activity students survived Miss Gray's classroom, got 'hands on with artefacts' and completed activities in the Museum.

We hope you enjoyed your trip and look forward to hearing from you!

Otautau School's trip to the Lakes District Museum saw a 'new' approach tried by staff and students. Students dressed in 1880s costume and planned and posed in a series of shots around Arrowtown.

Students first learnt about the history of photography and examined our Box Brownie and Rolleiflex camera's from the early 1900s before embarcking on a mission to recreate some old time photos of their own.

A variety of shots were taken including portrait sylte - no smiles now!! in the museum before venturing outside (and to the swarms (and cameras!) of tourists!!) to take more pictures. Sites included the Arrowtown cemetery, Catholic and Anglican churches, the Chinese village, old Gaol and finally Buckingham street.

We hope you had a good day Otautau and looking forward to seeing some pics and hearing about it on this blog!!

Yesterday, all of Poolburn school visited the Lakes District Museum to 'kick-start' their inquiry unit on GOLD! Students worked as detectives in the musuem looking for 'clues' to better understand the types of gold, methods used to extract gold and what life was like on the goldfields.

They also explored the Chinese village, Old Gaol, got 'hands on' with lots of artefacts and finally experienced some gold mining of their own! Many students (and parents) were 'struck' by gold fever!!! panning until 5pm!!

Poolburn School we hope you had a great time, please post us a blog to let us know what you thought of  your visit!

On Tuesday 6th March the museum staff welcomed the Hawea junior school. Like all Central Otago children they came well prepared for rain or sun; with hats, coats, drink bottles and huge lunches. What a great bunch of children they were, they listened carefully and asked great questions. For me the highlight of their visit was their reactions to the exhibits. One young man was agog at our under water diving suit and another was heard to utter, 'cool' when he came up to the gun display. The best thing about the Lakes District Museum is that it is a 'touch' museum. In many cases the children are encouraged to gently handle the exhibits, this makes their visit all the more memorable for them.

Hawea School were studying various aspects of gold and gold mining and so we looked at types of gold, we looked at how the miners got the gold out of the rivers and the hills, we looked at who came to Arrowtown to seek gold and how they got there.As well as visiting the museum we visited the Chinese Village where several lucky children got to dress up as Ah Lum. Finally the children went gold panning, some children even found their own gold. Well done Hawea School, I bet many of you had a big snooze on the way home.

Hopefully see you again soon - post a comment on this blog!

St Peter Chanel School from Green Island, Dunedin saw first hand Mary MacKillop's cottage on their visit to the Lakes District Museum in Arrowtown. Mary MacKillop came to New Zealand from Australia in the 1890s and helped estabilish many Catholic Schools. She lived in Arrowtown in 1897, at Burn Bank cottage and taught in St Patrick's School (next to St Patrick's church). Mary MacKillop (1842-1909) became Saint Mary of the Cross in October 2010.

St Peter Chanel students also explored the Chinese village, had plenty of luck with their panning in the Arrow River and survived a class with Miss Gray...JUST!

We hope you had a good time and look forward to your messages about  your visit on this blog!

Gorge Road students skipped for 'good luck' aorund the Mary Cotter tree on their visit to the Lakes District Museum this week. The tree nearly 150 years old is named after Mary Cotter who was aged two when it was planted!

Their skipping must have paid off with many students striking it lucky with their gold pans later that afternoon. Student also survived Miss Gray's classroom and explored the Chinese village.

Gorge Road - we hope the rest of your camp went well and let us know what you liked best!!

Hello Little Brown Kiwi and Hong Kong International School!!

Thanks for your visit yesterday..hope you enjoyed trying to make butter and rag mats! Finally after a big more churning the cream did turn!! Luckily the 'wooden peg' worked for you.

We hope you can now imagine what it must have been like for the early settlers to the goldfields and the challenges they faced.

Enjoy the rest of your time in NZ.

Yesterday, Timaru Girls' Year 12 history class not only spent time researching in our archives but as many students were focusing on Law & Order (as past of AS2.1) they explored the Old Gaol.

Built in 1875 and still without electricity (roof laterns instead let in natural light) the old gaol is a great primary source of information. Students can see first hand the horrible conditions people held in custody on the goldfields faced. Women usually fared slightly better than men with a fire in their tiny cell and some would even commit crime in winter so they could have a warm place to shelter.

Timaru Girls' we hope your trip was informative and now you have some good primary and secondary sources for AS 2.1 & 2.2 (let us know on this blog!). AND good luck for the rest of the year!