Otago residents may get a welcome one-off long weekend in the autumn of 2011, all thanks to an Australian.
Organisers of the 150th anniversary celebrations for Lawrence, which will centre on the discovery of gold by Gabriel Read in 1861, plan to petition the Governor-General for a public holiday to be declared on May 23, 2011 - exactly 150 years to the day after the Tasmanian found gold near the township.
If approved, the holiday would give Otago residents an extra long weekend - the date in question falls on a Monday.
The Clutha District Council recently backed the idea but did not want to see employers have to pay staff another day's holiday.
It preferred to see the holiday attached to the Otago Anniversary Day in March that year.
The letter to Governor-General Anand Satyanand will be in the post, according to celebration committee chairman Wayman Roughan, who is keen to see the historic date formally recognised.
"School children throughout New Zealand learn about this significant date in their lessons and today we see a number of school groups travelling to Lawrence to explore the goldfields," the committee's letter reads.
It is planning a year-long series of celebrations to mark the sesquicentennial of Lawrence and Gabriels Gully, named after Read.
