Reading+-+Journals

**Reading - Journal resources**

Article by BONALLACK, John
 * The biggest hole in the world**
 * Pt 01 No. 2 1995 Pgs 6-9**

In Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, the biggest dump trucks in the world are filled by the biggest diggers in the world which are digging the biggest hole in the world to find. . . gold. Reading Year Level 5 Guided Reading Level 9-10 by MELSER, June (Retold.) A poor woman and her seven sons are homeless, so one cold winter's night they decide to sleep in an empty house despite a warning that it is haunted. When a voice commands them to bring a light, Tom bravely obeys and holds it, while an old man finishes the book he is reading. As a reward he tells the boys to dig in the cellar and keep the pots of gold they find there, as well as the house. Reading Year Level 4 Guided Reading Level 8-9
 * Story**
 * Bring me a light**
 * Pt 01 No. 1 1978 Pgs 2-6**
 * Chinese rock dwellings**

**Pt 02 No. 3 1994 Pgs 36-40** **by CROWE, Andrew** In the days when gold was mined by pick and shovel, some Chinese miners came to the Central Otago goldfields and lived in houses they had made in the cliffs high above the Clutha River.

Reading Year Level 4Guided Reading Level 8.5-9.5
 * Digging for gold**

**by MAGUINESS, Jan** **Pt 01 No. 4 2003 Pgs 7-11** This report looks at Waihi's Martha Mine, explaining a little of its history since its opening in 1878. An impression of the huge size of this mine can be gained from the facts, figures, and accompanying photographs.

Reading Year Level 4 Guided Reading Level 8-9

**Discovering Chinatown** **by CORNER, Margaret** **Pt 04 No. 1 1988 Pgs 9-16** Article In the goldrush of the 1800s, Chinese gold miners lived near Cromwell, many of them in their own small town. An archaeologist tells how one of the biggest digs in New Zealand was organised so the town could be excavated to find out how the miners lived.

Reading Year Level 5

Guided Reading Level 9.5-10.5

**He Kept a Journal - David Balfour** **by MOONEY, Kay** **Pt 04 No. 3 1978 Pgs 32-41** David Balfour, a Scotsman came to New Zealand in 1862 from Australia and, when he had no luck at gold digging, returned to his former livelihood of sheep farming. In 1868 he and a friend bought a block of land in northern Hawke's Bay and throughout the years of the Hauhau attacks he struggled to survive and maintain a living. But he had to leave the farm and was eventually killed in an accident while in charge of a road gang. Reading Year Level 7 Guided Reading Level 11-13 Story by THOMSON, Jane
 * Lucky - or unlucky?**
 * Pt 02 No. 2 1990 Pgs 26-30**

A true tale of the gold rush near Clyde, when a group of prospectors have trouble with the flooded Clutha. Reading Year Level 5 Guided Reading Level 9.5-10.5

**Mr Scheib - gold miner** **Pt 01 No. 3 1981 Pgs 10-14** Article by VINE, Gillian Mr Scheib has been gold mining in central Otago for nearly fifty years. He pans for gold in the Shotover River. He has to earn enough in summer and autumn to keep himself and his wife for the whole year. In winter the river is too cold, and in spring it is too high. Reading Year Level 3 Guided Reading Level 8 **Righting the wrongs - poll tax in New Zealand** **Pt 04 No. 2 2003 Pgs 22-27** Article by NG, Eva Wong

In hard times, people often blame the most vulnerable members of the community. This is what happened to Chinese goldminers in New Zealand and resulted in the passing of the 1881 Chinese Immigrants Acts, which imposed a tax designed to keep Chinese out of New Zealand. 140 years later, our Prime Minister has apologised for this legalised discrimination.

Reading Year Level 7 Guided Reading Level 11-13

Article by WATERMAN, Steven The development of roads and transport in New Zealand from the early Maori trails through to the roads built to provide access to the gold fields, to supply the troops fighting in the Waikato, and by settlers opening up inland farms.
 * Roads in the making**
 * Pt 03 No. 3 1978 Pgs 46-55**

Reading Year Level 6 Guided Reading Level 10-12

Article by THOMSON, Jane
 * Wheelbarrow Jack**
 * Pt 01 No. 4 1986 Pgs 23-27**

(A true story of early New Zealand.) Jack couldn't afford a pack so he pushed everything he owned in a wheelbarrow to the gold diggings in Clyde. Things were tough until he struck it lucky; then the other miners stopped laughing at Wheelbarrow Jack.

Reading Year Level 5

Guided Reading Level 9-10