(once known as Manuherikia) – In the town centre you will find the 1879 Alexandra Courthouse (now a cafe), and the museum has a comprehensive collection of old mining relics and photographs.

Two leaflets are available describing viewing and walking tours in Alexandra and its immediate district which include many historical sites. These can be obtained from the Museum or the Information Centre. The diggings at Tucker Hill on the outskirts of the town remain much the same as when mining ceased in the early 1900s.

The first dredging company in 1863, using a primitive spoonbucket dredge, enjoyed some early success when working a claim on the river midway between Clyde and Alexandra. However, although dredging was pioneered in this area, the initial 30 years were not a success for the dredging industry.

Alexandra did however, benefit greatly from the second goldrush as a result of the gold dredging boom of the 1890s and early 1900s. Extensive terrace tailings line the Clutha River from Clyde to Alexandra with the most extensive area now protected at the Earnscleugh Tailings Historic Reserve. These tailings represent and preserve a sequence of the relics of early dredging era of 1896-1924, and the last dredging era of 1951 to 1963. The most recent of these were from the Alexandra Dredge which worked the Earnscleugh Flats until 1963.

The township of Clyde has retained its historic character (Photo: Jean Gibson)

(formerly known as The Dunstan) – was named after the nearby Dunstan Mountains, and was the town at the centre of the Dunstan Goldfields rush of 1862. Today, Clyde is overshadowed by the Clyde Dam hydro-electricity scheme. Stone and wooden buildings, dating back to the 1860s, line the streets of this historic town. Oliver’s Restaurant and Lodge, once a miners’ general store and stables, are steeped in old world charm. Dunstan House, opposite, was built in 1903 although the first hotel on this site dates back to 1862. Take a walk back through history to the museum at the former Courthouse and then along to the first herb factory established in New Zealand in the late 1930s.

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