Today saw the Year 3 & 4 students from Clyde Primary vist the museum for their study of all things GOLD!!

The students were keen and interested and participated extremely well in all the activities! They ventured to the Chinese village, experienced daily life of a miner and completed a series of questions in the museum!

Can you remember what alluvial gold is? or a blacksmith? what is different in your kitchen from the kitchen in the museum? how do you make butter??? what did the Chinese make their huts from?

We hope you enjoyed your day as much as we did - tell us ALL about it on this blog!!

Yesterday it was Clyde School's junior classes which made the trip up the Kawarau Gorge to Arrowtown to experience the museum's GOLD 150 programme!

Students completed a range of activties - exploring the Chinese village and seeing just how small the huts really were!!! They searched for clues to the treasure hunt in the museum finding a range of artefacts all to do with the great gold rush!! Then they braved the cold, chilly Arrow River and panned for gold, washed dirty aprons and made butter...all to simulate life as a miner!!

Clyde School Rooms 5 & 6 we hope you had a fun day at the museum...write to us about it on this blog!

Today, saw the first of four visits by Clyde School to the museum. The weather was perfect and once the sun came over the hills, life as a miner didn't seem quite so difficult!

Room 1 students (Year 5 & 6) completed three activites during their day. Exploring the Chinese village and seeing how these miners lived.....aren't you pleased you don't have to live in those small huts in winter???!! with only a few hours each day of sunshine it would have been FREEZING! The activity in the museum saw clipbaords and pencils out as students searched for information about life on the goldfields of Arrowtown and Otago. The Clyde students were excellent at the life of a miner challenge with most finding gold and some even getting food to eat! Could you have coped as a miner??

Room 1 we hope you had a great day out!! We certainly did. Post us some comments about your visit on this blog!

It looked like rain...then it felt like snow!!! BUT NO! luckily neither came and Wanaka Primary's Year 3 & 4 classes had a great day out exploring all things to do the with GOLD RUSH!

They visited the Chinese huts and saw the cramped (not to mention COLD!) conditions these miners endured! Then they completed a series of challenges all linked to a miners days - checking the price of horseshoes, making butter, buying some bread from the bakery, working out the best method to pan for gold and washing in the cold Arrow River water!! Finally they looked for clues about a miners life and mining methods using the museum displays.

We hope you had a good time..please post us a comment on this blog!

Today saw Omakau School visit the museum for the GOLD 150 programme!

The 34 very excited students arrived right on time and after a quick snack were into the activities....the senior class out on an historic 'shopping' walk and the juniors exploring the museum in search of all things gold (or to do with the gold RUSH)!!!

Soon it was the juniors turn outside to re-enact a day in the life of a miner...making butter, panning for gold and washing clothes in the river! The seniors went to the Chinese village and saw how these miners lived? Could you live like this?

After lunch it was the seniors turn to experience life as a miner and they had an added activity - digging a long drop!!!! There were some excellent 'holes' dug - well done!!

Omakau we hope you enjoyed your visit to us as much as we enjoyed having you and remember if you didn't strike it rich this time...you can ALWAYS come back!!

Post us a comment on this blog!

Today, the weather was wonderful and so were the Wanaka Junior school students! At the museum to participate in the GOLD prgoramme they completed the tasks with great energy and enthusiasm!

Fristly there was the street walk comparing Buckingham Street in the past to Buckingham Street today, then the 'gold treasure hunt' in the museum and lastly they got their hands (and in some cases feet!!) cold in the Arrow River as they undertook several 'chores' a miner would do during their day.

We hope you had a good time Wanaka Primary and look forward to hearing some of your comments on this blog!

Today saw Year 13 History and Tourism/Geography students from Marian College in Christchurch visit the museum. While the historians got to grips with the archives the geographers were given a guided tour of the Chinese Village before hearing a talk about changes in tourism in the Queenstown area over time.

After lunch the historians also visited the Chinese settlement before more work in the archives. Students worked out the archival system pretty quickly and were soon finding lots of useful information and both primary and secondary sources.

We enjoyed your visit and hope you did as well! Post us a comment on this blog.

Today saw the first of the Year 5 & 6 Queenstown Primary School students experience the GOLD 150 programme at the Museum!

The chill in the air was COLD! But they were not put off completing the life as a miner challenge in super fast time!! Well done!

Students also 'shopped' for mining goods in Buckingham Street and had some relief from the cold in the warmth of the Museum being 'gold detectives!'

We hope you enjoyed your visit as much as we did and look forward to hearing your comments on this blog!

For the last two days Year 12 students from Craighead Diocesan School in Timaru have been searching through our archives for information for their History NCEA 2.1 achievement standard. The girls worked extremely hard, looking at the thousands of photos, newspapers, books, oral history recordings and displays we have at the museum.

They also learnt about the Chinese village and visited the Old Gaol. We hope you enjoyed your visit and have lots of valuable information. Post us a comment about it!

Today, the skies opened and it RAINED...just as the Year 3 & 4 students from Queenstown Primary came off the bus : ( This failed to deter them though and they were straight on with the activities!

The first group (with their rain jackets on and umbrellas at hand) ventured up Buckingham Steet identifying buildings from the past while the second group tackled the "life as a miner" challenge. This involved some VERY COLD hand washing, making butter with 'arm' power, finding the Old Smithy and checking the price of horseshoes as well as pricing loaves of bread and working out the best methods to mine gold!

The last activity the groups undertook was the 'GOLD DETECTIVE' in the museum. Here students found information from the displays about life on the goldfields..can everyone remember where the biggest gold nugget ever found was from? or the different types of gold? or how your kitchen is so very different from the kitchen from the 1880s?!

Queenstown Primary we hope you had a good time and look forward to the rest of your school coming over the next few weeks! Post us a comment on this blog....!

Today saw the first of a series of visits by Wanaka Primary School to participate in our GOLD programme. Year 5 & 6 students experienced three different activities - being a 'gold detective' in the Museum, learning about life for Chinese Miners and completing the 'life as a miner' challenge.

The rain stayed away but the Arrow River was still freezing for hand washing and panning! Wanaka's willpower and determination showed through and many students went home a little richer...with some real GOLD!

We hope you had a good time..we can't wait for the rest of your school to come over! Post us a comment about your visit on this blog!

Today saw Lawrence Area School Year 7 & 8 students participate in a full day of activities all about life in the 1880s!!

First they survived Miss Gray..... then they completed the 'life as a 1880s child' challenge in expert style - we are sure you will all be making butter and hand washing your clothes from now on!!!....... next they discovered what life was like for the Chinese Miners and were all 'locked up!'...... finally they all got to pan for GOLD!!

We had a great time and hope you all enjoyed your visit....tell us about it on this blog!

Today saw Year 13 Geography students from Kings High - and two from Queens High hear a lecture about the spatial and temporal changes in tourism in Queenstown.

A presentation with historic photos showed the changes in tourism over time since the first Victorian Era tourists in the late 1800s to the adventure seeking tourists of today. Students also heard about factors which affect tourism and what impact tourism has had on the local area.

We hope you found the talk valuable and look forward to hearing some of your comments on this blog!

Today saw the second day of Central Southland College's Year 13 history visit to our archives!! It was great showing you all the resources we have and we hope you found lots of answers to your focusing questions!!

Students worked really hard and were engaged at all times including in the rain while examining the historic buildings in Arrowtown!!

Let us know how you found the visit with a post on this blog!

What a perfect day Kingsview chose to visit the Lakes District Museum. What a lot of activities they did! They were to learn about being a miner at the time gold was found in 1862. The children tried to imagine what the main street of Arrowtown was like during the gold rush. What funny things miner bought from the General Store - kettles, tea, potatoes and picks all from the same place! Well done Kingsview you are the best long drop diggers ever!!

Today saw Remarkables Primary Year 2 & 3 students recall the days of the gold rush in Arrowtown.

Students learnt about where the miners shopped, how they lived and caught 'gold fever' in the life as a miner activity by the Arrow River.

Students participated very well in all the activities and hopefully learnt lots of 'new' things about the life of the gold miners.

We are looking forward to welcoming more students from your school next week and hearing your thoughts on this blog!!

Today saw Mountainview High Year 12 History students explore the Chinese village at Arrowtown while gathering resources for their NCEA Level 2 History course.

Students walked around the village looking at Ah Lum's store, the long drop, huts on the hill and heard stories of the hardships which faced these miners. Then it was back to the museum for research in the archives, note-taking from the museum displays and gathering information from the Public library.

Although there was a lot of to do in a short space of times students worked really well...post us a comment about your visit and let us know if you need any more information!!