Myths were exploded and diverse aspects of gold mining spanning 150 years explored in the three-day Central Otago Gold Rush conference, which finished yesterday.
Organised by the University of Canterbury in association with the Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust, the "150 years of Riches" conference coincided with the 150th anniversary of the discovery of gold in Central Otago.
The conference in Cromwell attracted people from as far afield as Saudi Arabia, the United States and Australia, as well as from all over New Zealand.
Convener Lloyd Carpenter, of Canterbury University, said an average 65 people attended each day. Of that number, roughly half were from Central Otago and the Queenstown Lakes district and the remaining half from the rest of the country and overseas.
Anne Mills, of Alexandra, who attended the event, said she now viewed the district's gold mining history differently.
"There was such a variety of speakers, on all kinds of topics, but all interlocked, so you were able to get an overview," she said.
Keynote speakers included Associate Prof Warwick Frost, of La Trobe University in Melbourne, and Prof Tom Brooking, of the University of Otago.
The topics ranged from the origins of Otago goldfields names through to Chinese market gardening on the goldfields, Dunstan Gold Wardens, gold mining technology, historic goldfields tourism opportunities, and the status of gold in 19th century New Zealand novels.
Glass Earth Gold chief executive Simon Henderson spoke about modern gold mining in Central Otago, giving details of Glass Earth's operations in the area, along with some information on Oceana Gold's Macraes mine and L&M Mining's Earnscleugh flats operation.
"New gold-processing plants are actually very similar to the old ones - New Zealand pioneered those big gold plants," he said.
Mr Carpenter said the next step was to publish the conference presentations in "a high quality book".
The feedback about the event was positive, with those attending saying it was both "good fun" and educational.
"That was what we were aiming for, rather than a dry and dusty conference," he said.
