John Donnelly, 1821/1822?–1904
Prospector John Donnelly made several gold discoveries on the West Coast in the 1860s. Like many prospectors, he was more interested in discovering gold than settling down to dig the ground – when other diggers arrived he soon moved on to another area.
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John Ewing, 1844–1922
Known variously as Big John Ewing, the Gold Baron or the Mining Monarch, John Ewing was a pioneer of the alluvial gold-mining industry. He was especially active around St Bathans in Central Otago, and employed hydraulic elevators to mine a deep alluvial pit that is today known as the Blue Lake.
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James Park, 1857–1946
James Park had a distinguished career in the teaching of mining, as director of the Waihī School of Mines and professor of mining at the University of Otago School of Mines. He was an advocate of the cyanide process of gold extraction, and his 1894 book on the subject ran to 10 editions.
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William Skey, 1835–1900
Chemist William Skey analysed many samples of gold-bearing rock in his positions with the Geological Survey and Mines Department. He was also an awful poet.
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George Henry Frederick Ulrich, 1830–1900
German-born George Ulrich first visited New Zealand in 1875 when he prepared a report on the Otago goldfields. In 1878 he accepted the job as first director of the Otago School of Mines, and settled in Dunedin for good.
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