OUR HISTORY
Township & Schools
John MacRae, from whom the township of Macraes and Macraes Flat take their names, was a boundary rider. With his wife and young family, he had a swelling about a mile on the Dunback side of the township. Birth records show that some of his family were born there, and his descendants make reference to “Bonnie Brook” being MacRaes own name for the place. After the first discovery of gold in the Highlay Hills area in 1863, gold rushes followed and Macraes township formed. An article dated the 8th May 1865 in the Otago Witness reported that there were 25 businesses in place in the township to support the 500 miners working in the area. These businesses consisted of hotels, food and supply stores, bootmakers. Some of the buildings were built of wood, but many were made of sods and clay with thatched roofs. Peat that was cut in the summer and dried was used as a fuel source over winter. The town was first surveyed as Town of Macraes in 1876. During the heydays of the gold rush era there was both an upper and lower township, although the upper township was never surveyed as such. Most of the Chinese miners resided in the upper township which was about a kilometre from the lower township in the vicinity of Golden Point and Gifford Roads. There were stores in the upper township and probably grog shanties rather than licensed hotels. The home of Louis Gay Tan that has remained intact would have been in the upper township. Louis Gay Tan was a prominent Chinese merchant and interpreter who arrived in NZ in 1867 Known as ’The Chinese Palace,’ Chinese motifs are still to be seen on the lintels at its front door. This is a much more substantial dwelling than was usual for Chinese citizens but Louis’s wife, Emily, who grew up in Naseby, was of European descent and she would certainly have had some influence in the standard of housing she was willing to live in. One of the businessmen and wagoners, Thomas Stanley, bought Stanleys Hotel in 1882 and proceeded to have it rebuilt by built by stonemason John Budge, with the resulting buildings still what stands on the corner of Macraes and Hyde Roads overseen by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.
Schools
In the early days the area was serviced by two schools, Macraes which was established in 1868 and Moonlight School which was opened circa 1880. The Moonlight School was built on a site near the centre of Moonlight Flat, and remnants of the school remain at its original site on the corner of Moonlight and School Rd. The school roll for Moonlight peaked in 1896 with 45 pupils attending the school which came from the Moonlight, Nethorn and Horse Flat areas. The physical Moonlight school closed in 1952 at which time it was merged with Macraes school to form Macraes-Moonlight school. The Moonlight school teacher had additional duties as the post-office was also housed within the school. The first school in Macraes was the result of discussions held in February 1868 about the need for a school to be established. A small wooden two room building was purchased and a teacher, John Knox, was appointed. Within a short period this building was found to be unsuitable, and fund raising commenced to allow for the construction of a new, stone building on small hill overlooking the township which was formally opened in 1874 . This building was to serve as the Macraes School until it was closed in 1959. In 1959 the new school was opened on its current site. A replica of the old stone school was built by a former school principal Mr P. Paulin for the school centenary in 1968. The school bell that was installed in 1870 takes pride of place in the centre of the school and is still used to call the children in to class. In 2018 Macraes-Moonlight school celebrated 150 years of educating generations of children from Macraes and the surrounding areas.
Township Photos
School Photos
