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The History of Caledonian Creek And Moonlight, West
Coast, New Zealand.
Moonlight, a small rural district of the Grey Valley,
was named after legendary Scottish explorer & prospector George
Moonlight, who found gold in Moonlight Creek on 7th April 1865.
Gold fossicking can still be enjoyed in Moonlight Creek, where the Department
of Conservation manage a section of the creek bed as a recreational
gold panning area.
The Moonlight goldfield was one of the richest alluvial
strikes on the West Coast and famous for its large nuggets.
Peter Passini, an old Italian fossicker, found the 87½oz "Victory
Nugget" in 1917, long after the initial rush of 1865.
Caledonian Creek was also part of the rush to the Moonlight diggings,
and was mainly worked by Chinese miners.
A network of old roads and tracks still provides good access for bush
walking and exploring some of the old claims from that bygone era.
The well known Moonlight Track can be enjoyed as a one or two day tramp
and leads to the summits of the southern Paparoa Range.
From these alpine ridge crests one can enjoy 360º views, from the
expansive Tasman Sea to the snow-capped Southern Alps and Aoraki-Mt
Cook.
Next:
Tariffs at Caledonian
Creek Golf Course.
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