About this place
Situated on the rugged Danseys Pass road, Kyeburn Diggings is a high-country goldfield that feels like it hasn't changed since the 1860s. At an altitude of over 500m, it's a place of extreme beauty and extreme weather. This is where you come for the true "Otago Highland" experience — wide open tussock lands, vast skies, and the chance to find the unique "flat" gold that Kyeburn is famous for.
How it began
Kyeburn was first rushed in 1863, and at its peak, it housed over 2,000 miners. The most famous local character was "German Jack," who lived in a cave and worked the high terraces for decades. The area was particularly popular with Chinese miners in the 1870s, whose meticulous stone stackings and water races can still be seen throughout the valley. The Kyeburn Hotel, though now a private residence, was once the social hub of this remote community.
The ground
The gold at Kyeburn is found in an ancient riverbed known as the "Red Wash." These are oxidized, iron-rich gravels that sit on a white quartz pipe-clay bottom. The gold here is unusually flat and "scaly," as if it has been hammered thin by centuries of glacial pressure. Look for the "rusty" colored gravel layers — that's where the gold concentrates.