Gold! The mania for this shiny yellow metal swept all over Aotearoa in the second half of the 19th century and left the country, and many of its people, fundamentally changed.
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This episode we ask:
- Māori attitudes towards gold before, and after European contact?
- What makes a gold rush happen?
- How did the New Zealand gold rush fit into the context of gold rushes overseas?
- How did the rush get started?
- Who were the diggers and what were they like?
- What was the role of women in the rush?
- How did the gold rush affect tangata whenua?
- What was the role of Chinese migrants in the gold rush, and how did Europeans respond to them?
- How did the gold rush happen in different parts of Aotearoa?
For more on this subject:
- Diggers, Hatters and Whores by Stevan Eldred-Grigg
- Finding “Te Wherro” in Ōtōkou: Māori and the early days of the Otago gold rush by Lloyd Carpenter, MAI Journal.
- Journey to Lan Yuan by Toitu Otago Settlers Museum
- Gold and Gold Mining - Te Ara