Historic Mount Aurum Recreation Reserve

The reserve begins after crossing the historic Skippers suspension bridge. Opened in 1901 it’s the most spectacular of its kind in New Zealand. On the terrace above is a virtual ghost town, the remnants of Skippers Township, once the largest gold settlement on the Shotover River.

Skippers Bridge, Central Otago

The 1862 gold rush lured thousands of miners to Skippers Canyon, closely followed by packers, blacksmiths, butchers and bankers. At its peak, the settlement boasted a post office, hall, hotel, stores and a school. When the school closed in 1927 it became a woolshed, and later left derelict for some 20 years. In 1992 it was restored by the Department of Conservation.

The easy gold out of what was then known as ’the richest river in the world’ was quickly won. Miners then formed companies to work river bank and terrace claims together. Water races and sluicing scars can still be seen where pipes and canvas hoses were used to work the alluvial terraces in the 1870s. After that, as the gold dwindled, so too did the population; from around 700 in the 1860s down to just 92 in 1901.

Sheep farming on Mount Aurum Station began before the gold rush, in 1860. The terrain and climate made it difficult and unprofitable, and the run changed hands many times. The last change was in1985 when the station became a recreation reserve. Since then the homestead has been restored by DOC with a lot of input from volunteers.