Wānaka History

Wānaka History Wānaka History promotes stories of Wānaka and the surrounding areas in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Wānaka History is a project of the Upper Clutha History Society, using records from their archive.

Rolfe Mills was Project Manager for the Rippon subdivision in the late 1970s, including Sargood Drive, and he identified...
06/10/2026

Rolfe Mills was Project Manager for the Rippon subdivision in the late 1970s, including Sargood Drive, and he identified a 4-hectare block of land for the Edgewater Hotel.

Work on the site began in 1985 with Paynter & Hamilton Construction, and Edgewater opened July 1986 with an inauguration ceremony by the Minister of Tourism, Rt Hon Mike Moore.

Head to Edgewater and pop into their restaurant garden to view our historic plaque.

To read more about the development of Edgewater Hotel, head to our website here: https://www.wanakahistory.org/stories/the-sargoods-and-edgewater-hotel

Edgewater Lake Wānaka

Nearing the end of demolishing the Hāwea River Swing Bridge, 1 July 1957.This bridge was located about 200m downstream f...
29/09/2026

Nearing the end of demolishing the Hāwea River Swing Bridge, 1 July 1957.

This bridge was located about 200m downstream from the site where the Hāwea dam was being built.

To read about the history of bridges across the Hāwea river, head to our website here: www.wanakahistory.org/stories/crossing-the-hawea-river-the-bridges

Wānaka, c.1950s.This image shows the intersection of Lakeside Rd with Ardmore St looking at the bridge over Bullock Cree...
22/09/2026

Wānaka, c.1950s.

This image shows the intersection of Lakeside Rd with Ardmore St looking at the bridge over Bullock Creek. Note the photographer!

To listen to stories of historic Wānaka and the surrounding areas, head to our website here: www.wanakahistory.org/audio-stories

Scotts Beach, Lake Hāwea. c.1960s.According to Barbara Chinn in her book ‘A Pretty Good Place to Live’, Scotts Beach was...
15/09/2026

Scotts Beach, Lake Hāwea. c.1960s.

According to Barbara Chinn in her book ‘A Pretty Good Place to Live’, Scotts Beach was named after the grandson of the Gilkison family from Dunedin.

To learn more about Hāwea, head to our website here: www.wanakahistory.org/stories/history-of-lake-hwea-township

Dance tickets from days gone by.The first ticket is for a dance at the Olympic Hall on 15 October 1897, held by the Bach...
08/09/2026

Dance tickets from days gone by.

The first ticket is for a dance at the Olympic Hall on 15 October 1897, held by the Bachelors of Pembroke. The second is for the Education Centenary Ball in the Wanaka Hall on 12 October 1956, which included ‘Excellent supper’ and ‘Good music.’
NB: The Olympic Hall was replaced by a new Wanaka Hall in 1924. Both were at the same location on Ardmore Street.

To learn more about community dances in early Wānaka, read our story, “Where did they meet and dance?”, found here at: www.wanakahistory.org/stories/where-did-they-meet-and-dance

Lake Wānaka, c.1911This photo shows Beach St (now known as Lakeside Rd) running towards Pembroke township (now Wānaka). ...
01/09/2026

Lake Wānaka, c.1911

This photo shows Beach St (now known as Lakeside Rd) running towards Pembroke township (now Wānaka). The remains of the famous Paddle Steamer, the ‘Theodore’ can be seen on the shore.

To learn more about local Wānaka history, head to our website here: www.wanakahistory.org

Pembroke (now Wānaka), c.1907This image shows the mail coach to Cromwell in the first Wanaka Hotel backyard. We can iden...
25/08/2026

Pembroke (now Wānaka), c.1907

This image shows the mail coach to Cromwell in the first Wanaka Hotel backyard. We can identify the driver Bob Walker, Mr Marsh, the local policeman with a dog at his feet, and Teddy Grogan, the local baker in the white apron.

To read about the history of Post Offices in Wānaka, head to our website here: www.wanakahistory.org/stories/post-offices

Wānaka, c.1940-50s.This image shows a view of Wānaka, likely taken from the hill above Hedditch Street.To learn more abo...
18/08/2026

Wānaka, c.1940-50s.

This image shows a view of Wānaka, likely taken from the hill above Hedditch Street.

To learn more about Wānaka’s history, head to our website here: www.wanakahistory.org

Stan Kane at Luggate Memorial Hall On 21 June 1997 Stan Kane made a speech at the Luggate Memorial Hall, 43 years since ...
11/08/2026

Stan Kane at Luggate Memorial Hall

On 21 June 1997 Stan Kane made a speech at the Luggate Memorial Hall, 43 years since the hall opened. Stan Kane was a local resident and Chairman of the hall committee, as well as the President and a founder of the Upper Clutha Historical Records Society (now UCHS).

The Luggate Memorial Hall was decommissioned in 2017 because of seismic concerns. It was demolished in July 2021 and was replaced by the Luggate Memorial Centre the following year.

To read his speech about the Luggate Memorial Hall, including information on how it was built, head to our website here: www.wanakahistory.org/stories/speech-by-stan-kane-at-luggate-hall-1997

The Motatapu Hydraulic Sluicing and Elevating Co sluicing the tailings on Motatapu River claim, 1897-8.Hydraulic sluicin...
04/08/2026

The Motatapu Hydraulic Sluicing and Elevating Co sluicing the tailings on Motatapu River claim, 1897-8.

Hydraulic sluicing is a gold prospecting method that blasted fine gravels and the gold out of the ground before recovering the gold in sluice boxes.

To view more photos from our history, head to our website here: www.wanakahistory.org/maps-images

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