The Flag of the Qing dynasty flutters over the Lawrence Chinese Camp, near Lawrence. Photo: Yvonne O'Hara

Lawrence

The Lawrence Chinese Camp was founded in 1867, and had about 120 people living there, who came mainly from the Poon Yue, Canton, region.

Former trust chairman Dr James Ng, of Dunedin, said the camp was one of the earliest, biggest and most important of the Chinese sites.

Remains of the Chinese Empire Hotel and its stables were still there, while the Poon Fah Joss House, which was built in 1869 and used for meetings, a hospice and contained an altar, was returned to the site earlier this year.

One of the camp’s residents, butcher and market gardener Chow Tie, married Scottish woman Grace Kerr and they had nine children.

Their descendants recently held a family reunion in Dunedin and at the camp.

The site is now owned by the Lawrence Chinese Camp Trust, which is gradually restoring the buildings.

Dr Ng said the trust also intended to restore an oven on site, which was used to cook pork.

"It was a Mount Egmont type of oven — it looks like a volcano cone."

The Lawrence Information Centre and Museum, which is open seven days a week from 9.30am to 4.30pm, has dedicated a room to the area’s Chinese history containing artefacts, images and a video on the history of the people and their association with Lawrence.

Dr Ng said the Lawrence cemetery used to contain many Chinese bodies, but most were exhumed in 1881, 1901 and 1902 and sent back home to Canton.

However, some unmarked graves remain in one corner, that was used for Chinese miners and paupers.

Otago University bioarchaeologists are planning to excavate the site early next year to learn more about the people.

Alexandra/Clyde/Cromwell

Alexandra and the surrounding areas have a rich Chinese history.The Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery on Centennial Ave has gold mining displays and an archival collection featuring Chinese immigrants. It is open daily apart from Christmas Day.

The Moa Creek cemetery, which was restored in 2010, has several Chinese headstones and is managed by a trust.

Lye Bow was originally a miner at Butchers Gully, now Butchers Dam. He came to the region in the 1860s and established an orchard and market garden to supply Alexandra.

Lye Bow bed and breakfast owner Audrey Southall said there was a watercourse and visitors to Doc’s Flat Top Hill conservation area south of Alexandra could see part of a schist wall that forms part of the boundary between her property and theirs.

Lye Bow’s coolstore as well as remnants of other buildings are on her property.

His gravesite was located in the Alexandra cemetery earlier this year.

Lye Bow owned something even more valuable than gold, his water right, which he eventually sold to the Alexandra Borough Council in 1907 to be used for the town’s water supply.

Clyde, Alexandra, Naseby, St Bathans, Omakau and Cromwell cemeteries have Chinese graves.

Doc’s Aldinga Conservancy at Conroys Gully is an area which used to have many Chinese miners working on the diggings.

There are several stone huts and gold workings visible along the Clutha River, some of which were occupied by Chinese miners.

Many of these are visible by passengers on Clutha River Cruises or people cycling between Alexandra and Roxburgh.

The Goldfields Mining Centre in the Kawarau Gorge, west of Cromwell,

features a replica Chinese village and miner’s store and shacks as well as gold-panning displays and activities.

In the Cromwell Museum, in the Cromwell Mall, is a Chinese display area, with artefacts and a schist headstone belonging to Mooi Chin.

The hand-cut schist stone was from the Chinese settlement, drowned by the formation of Lake Dunstan, and thought to be a welcome sign.

After it was rediscovered under the stairwell at the museum, it was found to be a headstone and is now considered a "national treasure".

The Cromwell cemetery has several Chinese graves.

Arrowtown

The Lakes and Districts Museum and Gallery, which is open seven days a week, apart from Christmas Day, has gold-mining displays.

In addition, the Arrowtown Chinese settlement, off Buckingham St, Arrowtown, began life in the 1880s and housed Chinese miners.

Some of the buildings have been either restored or partially restored.

Doc’s Anita Middlemiss said the Chinese worked most of the gold-mining sites in the region, including Potters Creek and the Carrick Range, although some are not easily accessible or on private property.

Details of what is available can be found on the Doc website www.doc.govt.nz

Today if the visitor wants to experience a different sort of sensory experience link to modern China, then they can do no better than try a Central Otago cherry.

Thousands of tonnes of export cherries are sent to China annually.

There are orchards throughout the region where cherries can be picked and bought.

In addition, there are vineyards in the region, which have been established on former Chinese sites, such as Aurum Wines, which is on a former market garden owned by Wong Que, in Cromwell.

Crown Range Cellar was co-founded by winemaker Grant Taylor and managing director Jing Song.

One of their vineyards is at Chinaman’s Terrace, Bendigo, north of Cromwell, and Mr Taylor makes China Girl pinot noir.

Marketing manager Tom French said the name of the wine reflected the history of the area as well as Mr Taylor and Ms Song’s enthusiasm for David Bowie’ song China Girl.

"The Chinese were the most skilled miners in the world for extraction of gold and the most profitable," he said.

"We pay homage to them."

— Yvonne O'Hara, additional research and photos by Simon Henderson.