West Coast Gold Rush West Coast Gold Rush The West Coast Gold Rush on the West Coast of New Zealand from 1864 to 1867 populated the area, which up till then had been visited by few Europeans. Gold was found near the Taramakau River in 1864 by two Māori, Ihaia Tainui and Haimona Taukau. In 1865–66 gold was discovered at Okarito, Bruce Bay (the scene of the Hunt's Duffer gold rush), around Charleston and along the Grey River. Miners were attracted from the Central Otago Gold Rush, and from Victoria, Australia where the Victorian gold rush had nearly finished and by the end of
Women in the California Gold Rush lines were up and running by late 1849. In Ireland, the Great Potato Famine was a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration between 1845 and 1852 that drove many desperate women to the United States and on to California. Women of many different continents, statuses, classes, and races were involved in the California Gold Rush. The fast increasing population had very few women in it and what women there were found myriads of opportunities. As word of the gold rush spread so did the word of opportunities for women to work in the women poor gold fields and communities.