Arrowtown - Chinese Settlement

The NZ gold boom happened before the California Gold Rush and drew miners from all over the world.  The largest contingent were from China who made up 30% of those working the gold fields and produced 40% of the gold.  Most were young men who left behind young families waiting for money to be sent to support them.  A lot of the miners died, mostly from disease, many moved on to the US as NZ's fields declined.  Some stayed behind in the small settlements, like the one preserved and restored in Arrowtown, ekeing out a lonely life.

This hut was decorated with newspaper, much as the slave huts we saw two years ago in Charleston, N. Carolina.