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1800s – 1900s: The social history of New Zealand’s gold rushes, as used by Eleanor Catton in her research for The Luminaries.
Diggers, Hatters & Whores
What you need to know before your trail
As used by Elenor Catton in her writing of The Luminaries
‘I owe a debt of gratitude to . . . Stevan Eldred-Grigg’s history of the New Zealand gold rushes Diggers, hatters & whores.’ Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries
A thorough and carefully researched history of the gold rushes in New Zealand. The scope is the social history of the goldfields of colonial New Zealand, from the 1850s to the 1870s. The book opens with a survey of worldwide rushes in the late eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth centuries, when for the first time in history a great wheeling movement of gold diggers began to revolve from continent to continent. The main body of the book looks at all the rushes, large and small, that took place in the colony: Coromandel, Golden Bay, Otago, Marlborough, the West Coast and Thames.
Travel Guide
Booktrail The Luminaries here
Coromandel
The Coromandel Peninsula on the North Island is some 85 kilometres north from the Bay of Plenty, and is a natural barrier protecting the Hauraki Gulf and the Firth of Thames in the west from the Pacific Ocean to the east. Ar its broadest point,it’s 40 kilometres wide. On a good clear day, the peninsula is clearly visible from Auckland.
Golden Bay
A popular tourist destination, it was once a resting area for migrating whales and dolphins. In the late 1850s, with the discovery of gold in at Aorere, its name was changed frpm Coal Bay to Golden Bay
Otago
Otago in the colony of New Zealand was the province gripped by that fever. The year was 1861. Society seemed ‘unhinged’ Eighteen year before gold madness gripped Otago, a surveyor had picked up one in the bed of the Aorere River in the province of Nelson
“Otago in the colony of New Zealand was the province gripped by that fever. The year was 1861. Society seemed ‘unhinged’”
Eighteen year before gold madness gripped Otago, a surveyor had picked up one in the bed of the Aorere River in the province of Nelson
Marlborough
An area well known for its winemaking industry. The Marlborough Sounds are an extensive network of coastal waterways, peninsulas and islands.
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: Diggers, Hatters & Whores
Author/Guide: Stevan Eldred-Grigg Destination: New Zealand Departure Time: 1800s/Early 1900s
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