The Lawrence Chinese Camp is located
1.2 km west of the township of Lawrence, in Central
Otago.
The camp was established during the
Otago gold rush of the 1860s after the Lawrence Town Council passed
a bylaw declaring that Chinese migrants were prohibited from living
and doing business in the township of Lawrence. The local Chinese
were given a block of marginal swampy land and there they set up
what became a thriving Chinese settlement that became known as the
Lawrence Chinese Camp. By the 1870s the Lawrence Chinese Camp had
numerous stores, a hotel, boarding houses, physicians, a butchery,
gambling facilities and opium dens. The permanent residents of the
camp were all Chinese trades people but it also had a population of
temporary residents comprising the miners who came periodically to
replenish supplies and spend some of their gold earnings. The camp
eventually became a major attraction in the new province and during
the Chinese New Year attracted many out of town visitors. The last
resident of the camp, Chow Shim, died in 1945 and the site is now
under pasture with the only surviving buildings being the Chinese
Empire Hotel and its stables.
The camp was a feature of the 150th
Gabriel's Gully celebrations in March 2011 when the cache was
placed. The cache is an eclipse container with a log. Bring your
own pen.