The discovery of large deposits of gold in Otago in the early 1860s created a gold rush as new migrants poured into the region, hoping to strike it rich. They needed housing, feeding and watering, all of which hotels could provide. This map of Dunedin shows the large number of hotels that opened in the town between 1861 and 1865.
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Source: R. P. Hargreaves, Barmaids, billiards, nobblers and rat-pits: pub life in goldrush Dunedin, 1861–65. Dunedin: Otago Heritage Books, 1992, inside back cover.
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