Lakes District Museum and Gallery

The Lakes District Museum and Gallery is the best place to understand how Arrowtown, and the wider Wakatipu district, came to exist. It occupies the original Bank of New Zealand building on Buckingham Street, the historic main street, where gold from the surrounding fields was once held. Arrowtown is about 20 minutes' drive from central Queenstown, and the museum makes a natural first stop before you explore the town itself.

Gold is the central theme. Arrowtown grew up after gold was discovered in 1862, and the museum's collection covers the rush, the miners who came from around the world, and the hard life on the goldfields. The story of the Chinese miners, who were invited to the Otago goldfields from the mid-1860s, has its own place in the displays and links directly to the restored Arrowtown Chinese Settlement at the other end of the street. Other displays look at Māori in the Southern Lakes and the later history of the district.

The building also has an art gallery with a changing programme of exhibitions, an information centre and a retail shop. The museum runs the Arrowtown Post Office at 52 Buckingham Street, which describes itself as the second-oldest operating post office in New Zealand and has served the town since the gold discovery. Researchers can use the archives, and the museum runs education programmes for early childhood, primary and secondary students, including ESOL groups. Gold panning is part of that programme. The post office keeps its own hours, opening on weekdays and, from October to April, for a few hours at weekends.

The museum suits history lovers, families with school-age children and anyone wanting context before walking around Arrowtown's heritage cottages. Allow an hour or so for the displays. Admission is charged, with discounts for children, seniors and students, a family ticket, and free entry for children under five.

The museum and gallery are open daily from 9am to 5pm, as are the information centre and shop, and all venues close on Christmas Day. A visit combines well with lunch on Buckingham Street and a walk up to the Chinese Settlement at the top of the street.