Resources

A rich resource for information about Waipori’s past is David Still’s impressive book Gold beneath dark waters.  Across 320 well-illustrated A4 pages he tells the story of the gold field, Waipori town and its community.  The book is particularly about the people who were part of Waipori, and it contains stories and family histories of more than 500 people from James Abraham to Henry Zebell.

See an interview with David about this book here. The book was privately published in 2016 and is out of print, but may be available from second-hand dealers.

Ashley Blair portrays Waipori at the height of the gold rush through the story of one of New Zealand’s lesser-known murders.  Murder on the Otago goldfields: the 1865 stabbing of Richard Atkinson at Waipori centres on the murder of Richard Atkinson (and wounding of his daughter Margaret Dickson), the search for the perpetrator and his later trial and execution. It is also a rich account of life in Waipori and the hunt for gold.

Blair, Ashley (2015)  Murder on the Otago goldfields: the 1865 stabbing of Richard Atkinson at Waipori.  Pukerua Press, 160 pp. It is also out of print.

Agnes Crowley wrote this book for the (belated) centennial of Waipori in 1969. Its 40 pages contain accounts of Waipori life and photographs. Well out of print, it can occasionally be found in second-hand book stores.

For the 150th anniversary celebrations in 2016, Waipori descendant Kerry Driscoll republished Waipori whispers by Agnes Crowley and a centennial publication by Marguerite Parsons.

Four pupils of Kaikorai Valley High School published this 16-page booklet in 1970, which contains a short history of the first four years of the Waipori goldfield. The content was originally published in the Otago Daily Times. The booklet can sometimes be found in second-hand shops.