Historic Danseys Pass Hotel Job Vacancies

Danseys Pass Hotel is located deep within the Kyeburn Diggings and has a colourful history traced back to the 1860’s, when it serviced a multicultural gold prospecting community of 2000.

Teamsters with their wagon trains plying trade between the Waitaki Basin and the Central Otago gold fields used the Coach Inn as a stopover when traveling on to the more remote gold prospecting areas of Central Otago.

The Danseys Pass Hotel was built in 1862, with the original stonework constructed by a mason known as “Happy Bill”. Bill’s remuneration was in beer, and he received one pint for every schist boulder shaped and laid. Legend has it that after a particularly busy day the blithe craftsman fell into an open grave at the cemetery, and slept the night away.

During 1861 the prospector Leggatt found gold at the Upper Kyeburn, and in July 1863 a rush to Mount Buster took place about eight miles from Kyeburn Diggings. There was once a thriving community at Kyeburn Diggings. The Mount Ida Chronicle in 1870 lists the business places at Kyeburn Diggings as three hotels, three stores, one butchery and one bakery. The district was also accused of having six unlicensed grog shanties. Coal mining was also important at Kyeburn, and good quality lignite was worked until about 1900.

In September 1869 the first service was held in the new Union Church, the preacher being The Reverend James Burchett. This tiny church served the community for twelve years, and was then moved next to the school and used as a library. A new church of sun-dried brick was constructed which stood until 1923.

One report in 1880 estimated the number of Chinese working the diggings as six hundred. There was even a Chinese store about two hundred yards above German Creek, which was not pulled down until 1920. The deep cutting on the terrace behind this hotel was worked by Chinese, as was the adjacent cutting on the road known as Chinaman’s Cutting.

Today only the Danseys Pass Hotel, first built in 1862 and standing at 2,000ft above sea level remains to remind travellers of a colourful history, and a gold prospecting community of more than two thousand souls. Now only clumps of trees and an occasional decaying wall, mark the places where many large families were raised. The early miners planted trees in what was originally a treeless country, and one fine specimen of Redwood is still to be found about four hundred yards up German Creek.

Singles, couples, families and tour groups stop by in all seasons for a hearty meal prepared by our talented chef, and the outdoor bar has a wide selection of refreshments for those who want to savour the fresh air and views of the mountains. There is plenty of car parking space for visitors with their own transport, otherwise a shuttle service can be arranged that allows you and your group to sit back, relax and take in more of the magnificent alpine scenery speckled with abandoned farmhouses and endemic wildlife.