Five volunteers from the Cooper’s Terrace project have installed a bench seat on the Arrow River.

Four of these volunteers hail from Central, the Banks family, of Cromwell and specialist heritage stonemason Keith Hinds, of St Bathans. 

Tauranga based archaeological artist Jan Morrison enlisted Keith’s help in 2022 with stabilising the unique stonework from around the 1860s. 

She has been returning to work at the site since she uncovered the ruins back in 2009.

The installation of the seat comes after months of organising it last year, getting the required consents, sorting out a Community Agreement with the Department of Conservation (DOC) and choosing the seat.

Jan thanked Nomad Safaris, who funded the seat and Keith for leading the team to install it earlier this month. 

Other work being carried out this summer is weed-eating and stonewall repair work with archaeologist Ethan Banks assisting Keith. 

Ethan Banks will take over the Archaeological Authority required by Heritage New Zealand, currently held by Jan and extend his excavations to cover the whole site. 

Keith and Jan planning their work back prior to a summer working bee. PHOTO: The Central App

The site is about a 10 minute walk from the well known Chinese miners settlement in Arrowtown, and it is a lesser known village – it is made up of the ruins of six huts, a

grand European looking entrance way and a 13m stone wall surrounding it.

To learn more about the project visit the give a little page here.