Central Otago – Bendigo Ghost Town

After a tasty lunch in Bannockburn, we continued up Lake Dunstan towards the historic Bendigo Reserve. Turning off the main road, we followed a dirt track through acres of vineyards before coming to the site of the former mining area of Bendigo.

Gold mining started in the Bendigo region around 1863, and the area became known as the richest hard rock gold mines in Otago. From 1869 over half a million pounds of gold was extracted from the reefs in this area.

We started our exploration at Welshtown, the remains of one of the small settlements that grew up in the area when miners got tired of walking up and down the hill from Bendigo everyday.

A loop track took us around a series of old mine shafts, several of which descended around 200 metres (over 650 feet) into the rock below. Although none of the shafts and tunnels were particularly profitable. We passed the remains of the Pengelly Hotel, which must have been quite luxurious in it’s day with a fireplace in each of the small rooms.

From the remains of the settlement and mines at Welshtown, we made our way back down the hill towards Logantown. The town sprang up quickly in 1868, when after two years of working at the site, Thomas Logan and Jack Garrett finally found the very rich gold-bearing seam. After securing an investment partner to allow them to purchase a stamping battery, they set up the Cromwell Quartz Mining Company which split a dividend pool of four thousand pounds between its shareholders in 1869.

The huge early success of the Cromwell Quartz Mining Company meant rapid growth for Loganstown as miners flocked to the area. We were able to pick out some of the old buildings including Thomas Logan’s small cottage and the old hotel, which was easily recognised by the broken beer and whiskey bottles outside.

Walking through the quiet, dry hillsides with sweeping views of the Dunstan Mountains and fertile valleys filled with well-know vineyards it was hard to imagine how different the area would have been in the late 1800’s with all the miners and equipment working on this hillside.