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Ophir Post Office - Historic Places Trust
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Attraction
- Ophir
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More Information and Bookings
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Ophir, formerly known as Blacks No 1 or Blackton, was a thriving gold mining town established in the 1860s.
History
In 1875 the settlement, complete with stores, hotels, banks, churches, hospital, police station and school, was named Ophir after the Biblical place where King Solomon obtained gold for the temple in Jerusalem. In October 1886 a new Post Office of schist masonry with plaster quoins and window dressings was built by stonemason Edward Booth, replacing a smaller operation in Ophir.
In 1976 the Post Office was taken over by the NZHPT and restored, and still operates postal services for three hours each weekday morning. Its interior remains largely unchanged from the time of its construction.
The Reverend Alexander Don (1857-1934) was a Presbyterian missionary, whose main concern was with the Chinese miners in Central Otago who would pick over goldfields abandoned by European miners and often lived in conditions of extreme poverty. Don would walk thousands of kilometres across the goldfields to engage with the Chinese miners, and even went to China to learn Cantonese. His 'Book of Chinese', which lists the names and details of every Chinese person he had contact with, now forms the greatest demographic record of this group of people whose information might otherwise have been lost.
Don's meticulous record-keeping can also be seen in the collection at the Ophir Post Office. He appears to have been a tireless polymath; amongst his many interests he was also the weather observer for Ophir on behalf of the Meteorological Office. This role was taken over by the postmistress on his death in 1934.
The archive that remains consists of recordings and letters sent between Don and the Met Office directors, commenting on the phenomenal weather of Central Otago - from frosts and snow to electrical storms and auroral observations. His observations were taken in his garden at The Bungalow, in Ophir.
This small observation book lists weather data for 1928. In 1995, Ophir recorded the lowest official temperature in New Zealand - minus 21.6°C.
Opening hours
9am to 12 midday Monday to Friday, as a working post office. Closed on public holidays
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Address
Swindon Street
Ophir
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