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Ah Wak's Outhouse
Size 60mm high
The Arrowtown Chinese Settlement is the best remaining example of a Chinese goldfields settlement in New Zealand and is a mute reminder of a colourful chapter in the history of Central Otago. The settlement is situated on the flats amongst the willows, poplars and hawthorns by Bush Creek, at the top end of the main street of Arrowtown, near Queenstown.
Gold was first discovered in payable quantities in Otago in 1861. By 1864 the population of the province had swelled to 30,000. This goldrush led to the Otago Provincial Council invited Chinese miners from Victoria, Australia to come to the goldfields, the first of which reached Dunedin in February 1866. Within two years there were 1200 Chinese in Otago and this total quadrupled in the 1870’s.
Ah Wak was a long time Macetown resident living in a stone dwelling near the entrance of the town and when not mining, assisted William Smith in his Macetown general store. When this closed in about 1914 Ah Wak supposedly shifted to work at the Royal Oak Hotel in Arrowtown where he lived until his death in the 1920’s. He also constructed this outhouse of stone, with a corrugated iron roof, and surprisingly, no door.
Price $59.00*
* Prices are in New Zealand dollars (NZD)
* Prices subject to change without prior notice
* Prices do not include postage and packaging
* NZ customers: Prices include GST