New Zealand History

St Bathans is now part of the Otago Goldfields Park. It is a remnant of the old gold mining town originally named Dunstan Creek. Gold was first discovered in St Bathans in 1863. From that time more than 100,000 ozs (2834 kilos) of gold were extracted from the three largest mining operations of the Ewing Company. These gold mining operations were at Vinegar Hill, the Kildare Mine, which later formed the famed Blue Lake, and the Scandinavian mine at Surface Hill. The Kildare mine operated the highest hydraulic lift in the world at that time with two vertical lifts, one of 34.09m (165 feet) and the second of 18.29m (60 feet). Locals called it 'The Glory Hole'.

By 1864, 1000 people lived in Dunstan Creek with a further 1000 in the immediate area.

In 1866 the name Dunstan Creek was changed to St Bathans, the original name given by the first surveyor of the district. In the late 1860's St Bathans was well established with 15 hotels, a number of gambling and dance halls and many businesses.

Many of the miners came from Ireland and the highlight of the year was the St Patrick's Day picnic. There were also 50 Chinese miners registered as living in St Bathans in 1867. Little is known about them but some lived in caves excavated in local cliffs. Their caves on Downs Road unfortunately were lost in the 1970's after heavy rain caused a large slip.

Nowadays there are few permanent residents in the village. There is a walk that you can take around the historical town. A booklet has been produced with information about the historical buildings along the walk and there are also notice boards in front of the buildings...