The Names That Built Our Town – Fox’s Terrace

In This Series… Ray White agent and creator of the Arrowtown Audio Tour, Nick Fifield, details the stories of our streets. Because buying or selling a home in Arrowtown isn’t only about price, it’s about place and the stories we’re part of.

The story behind Fox’s Terrace goes all the way back to Arrowtown’s beginning, the very beginning! One of the first gold mining parties to arrive searching for gold in 1862 was an Irish party, led by the formidable Bill Fox. For many years, he was given credit as the discoverer of gold here, but today Jack Tewa is recognised as the first to find gold in the Arrow River.

They made the most of the lack of competition and are said to have obtained 40 lbs of gold in just 2 weeks, equivalent to 18 kg. But those days were not to last.  Fox went to Dunstan to collect supplies and paid for them in gold, which was keenly noted by sharp-eyed observers. About 30 miners attempted to follow him to learn the source of his gold, a chase that became known as “seeking the Fox” and “the great Fox hunt”.  Fox attempted to evade them by leaving his overnight camp in the early hours, not taking it down, so his pursuers thought he still slept.  But eventually, the smoke from the camp on the Arrow River was noticed, and the rush was on.
As the hordes arrived, Fox appointed himself ‘commissioner’, laying down the law and enforcing dictates with his fists. Allocating claims to new arrivals himself, granting 60 feet of river frontage in which to fossick for gold, the punishment for jumping a claim? Was to fight Fox himself! So pronounced was Fox’s presence presiding over the camp, that for a time, this place was known as Fox’s or Fox’s Diggings. By 1864, Fox was operating a hotel at Arthur’s Point, The Four Alls. He got involved in a brawl and stabbed a man 7 times with a pocketknife. Lucky for Fox, the man survived, and he was charged with “wounding with intent” rather than murder. He was found guilty, convicted, and received 6 months’ hard labour in Dunedin.
On his release, he left for the West Coast, and in 1866, he found gold in the Potikohua River near Charleston, which was later renamed the Fox River on his account.  Although he was to die destitute in Reefton in 1890, a large crowd turned out for his funeral and he was praised for his bravery, prospecting skills, and acknowledged as an essential figure in New Zealand’s gold mining history.

1962 Centenary Monument at Coopers Terrace (nr. Arrowtown) crediting Fox as the first to discover gold.

In Arrowtown, even in the quietest cul-de-sacs, there’s a story beneath the street sign. Knowing the past provides context for the present, and when buying or selling in Arrowtown, that local insight makes all the difference.

You can hear more stories from Arrowtown’s past by downloading the Arrowtown Audio Tour from your favourite app store.