14/09/2026
Ross was established in 1865 with the discovery of payable quantities of gold at Jones's Creek and the Mikonui and Totara Rivers. The quantity of alluvial gold sustained large numbers of miners for several decades, so that the town did not continue as a temporary settlement like many of the West Coast places of gold discovery. βοΈ
The town of Ross was promptly surveyed as the 1865 rush began and named after Canterbury Provincial Council's Treasurer, Donald Ross. Nearby to Ross, Maori knew the Totara Lagoon as Paiari, a place abundant with bird and fish.
Between 1865 and 1875 the mining population rapidly grew to at least 3,500. Jones's Flat was the richest piece of gold bearing ground in New Zealand, with work concentrated on a compact block of land only approximately five kilometres square.
By the turn of the century, the population had considerably diminished to approximately 600. Today the township's population is even smaller and the few surviving historic buildings are the principal indication of its mining past and once thriving community. The heritage structures, remnants of mining machinery and detailed interpretation panels in the Historic Area are sited in what was the town's centre during the goldfield's early, most productive decades. They provide an important understanding of the place's unique past. The site alone has important heritage and archaeological values.
These values are enhanced by the six structures - St Patrick's Church, 1866; Catholic Presbytery, 1870s (now in private ownership); de Bakker Cottage, 1885; Former Jail, 1890s; Fire Brigade Tower, c.1874 (reconstructed 1977); and Grimmond House, 1870, (reconstructed 1990).
Quoted by Heritage New Zealand.
(Photo taken by us)
