Queenstown, New Zealand
Queenstown (Māori: Tāhuna)[3] is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It has an urban population of 29,000 (June 2023).[4]
The town is built around an inlet called Queenstown Bay on Lake Wakatipu, a long, thin, Z-shaped lake formed by glacial processes, and has views of nearby mountains such as The Remarkables, Cecil Peak, Walter Peak and just above the town, Ben Lomond and Queenstown Hill.
The Queenstown-Lakes District has a land area of 8,704.97 square kilometres (3,361.01 sq mi) not counting its inland lakes Hāwea, Wakatipu, and Wānaka. The region has an estimated resident population of 52,800 (June 2023).[4] Neighbouring towns include Arrowtown, Glenorchy, Kingston, Wānaka, Alexandra, and Cromwell. The nearest cities are Dunedin and Invercargill. Queenstown is known for its tourism businesses, especially adventure and ski tourism.
Toponymy[edit]
Tāhuna, the te reo name for Queenstown, means "shallow bay".[5]
There are various apocryphal accounts of how Queenstown gained its name, of which the following appears to be the most likely: "When William Rees first arrived in the area and built his homestead, the area was known as The Station although miners soon referred to it as The Camp from 1860 to 1862. The miners, and especially the Irish, had taken an interest in the ceremony held for a town called Cobh in Ireland (then part of the United Kingdom) which was renamed Queenstown in honour of Queen Victoria in 1850.[6]
There was then a public meeting to name the township on the lake in January 1863 (probably the weekend of the 3rd and 4th) in which the town was officially given the name of Queenstown in reference to Ireland's Queenstown. By 9–10 January 1863, the town was being reported with the name of Queenstown in several reports written by a correspondent in the Otago Witness on 5 and 6 January.[7][8]
History[edit]
Māori settlement and presence[edit]
The area was discovered and first settled by Māori. Kāi Tahu say that the lake was dug by the Waitaha ancestor, Rākaihautū, with his kō (digging stick) named Tūwhakaroria. After arriving at Whakatū Nelson in the waka Uruao, Rākaihautū divided his crew into two. He led one group through the interior of Te Waipounamu, digging the freshwater lakes of the island. After digging the lakes Hāwea, Wānaka, and Whakatipu Waimāori, he travelled through the Greenstone and Hollyford valleys before finally digging Whakatipu Waitai (Lake McKerrow).[9]
The first non-Māori to see Lake Wakatipu was European Nathanael Chalmers who was guided by Reko, the chief of the Tuturau, over the Waimea Plains and up the Mataura River in September 1853.[10] Evidence of stake nets, baskets for catching eels, spears and ashes indicated the Glenorchy area was visited by Māori. It is likely Ngāi Tahu Māori visited Queenstown en route to collect Pounamu (greenstone). A settlement called Te Kirikiri Pa was occupied by the tribe of Kāti Māmoe which was situated where the Queenstown Gardens are today, but by the time European migrants arrived in the 1860s this settlement was no longer being used.[5]
European settlement c. 1860[edit]
European explorers William Gilbert Rees and Nicholas von Tunzelmann were the first non-Māori to settle the area. Rees established a high country farm in the location of Queenstown's current town centre in 1860, but the discovery of gold in the Arrow River in 1862 encouraged Rees to convert his wool shed into a hotel named the Queen's Arms, now known as Eichardt's.[11]
Many Queenstown streets bear names from the gold mining era (such as Camp Street) and some historic buildings remain. William's Cottage, the Lake Lodge of Ophir (now Artbay Gallery), Queenstown Police Station, and St Peter's Anglican Church lie close together in a designated historic precinct.
1999 flooding[edit]
There was a severe weather event in the South Island in November 1999, bringing torrential rainfall in the catchments of Lake Wakatipu.[12] The level of the lake rose from 310.5 m to 312.77 m, leading to the most severe flooding in the recorded history of Queenstown. Properties in central Queenstown close to the lakeshore were flooded up to 1 m deep, causing major damage. Total insurance claims were around $50 million. Properties in Glenorchy and Kingston were also flooded, and the road from Queenstown to Glenorchy was damaged by washouts.[13][14]
Government[edit]
Local[edit]
Queenstown lies in the Queenstown-Lakes District territorial authority. It is also part of the Otago region, administered by the Otago Regional Council.
National[edit]
For the New Zealand Parliament, Queenstown is covered by one general electorate, Southland, and one Maori electorate, Te Tai Tonga. As of the 2023 general election, Southland is represented by Joseph Mooney (National) and Te Tai Tonga is represented by Tākuta Ferris (Te Pāti Māori).
Culture[edit]
Locations for television and film[edit]
Jane Campion's six-part drama mystery Top of the Lake was shot during 2012 for pay TV release in 2013. The lakes of the Wakatipu appear ominous,[62] and the Southern Alps spectacular. The main location is Moke Lake[63][64] and scenes were shot on Lower Beach Street and Coronation Drive, and at a supermarket and bottle store on Shotover Street.[63]
In 2010, Cycle 14 of America's Next Top Model, was, in part filmed in Queenstown and was as won by Krista White. Raina Hein was runner-up.
Queenstown and the surrounding area contain many locations used in the filming of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Locations used include Paradise near Glenorchy, at the head of Lake Wakatipu.
Queenstown became popular in South Asia after the release of Bollywood blockbuster Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai, which was partially shot there. Starring sensational debuts by Hrithik Roshan and Amisha Patel it was this film that opened the doors for both tourists and filmmakers from India to New Zealand with Queenstown being the most sought-after destination. Queenstown featured for 17 minutes in I Hate Luv Storys, a 2010 Bollywood romantic comedy. Queenstown and the surrounding areas were also used in the 2009 X-Men Origins: Wolverine film. Mee-Shee: The Water Giant was shot in Queenstown in 2005, and released to DVD in the same year. Queenstown was also used to film most of the 1988 The Rescue. Queenstown was the base for filming the George Lucas 1988 fantasy film Willow.
Filming of the 1981 film Race for the Yankee Zephyr took place in and around Queenstown, the first major motion picture production for the area.
A 1989 TV Commercial for the Toyota Hilux starring Barry Crump and Lloyd Scott in which the two drive off the cliff was filmed at nearby Queenstown Hill. [65]
The first and last episodes of the fifth season of The Mole were filmed in Queenstown.
The 2017 Filipino drama film Northern Lights was shot entirely on location in Queenstown substituting for the setting of Alaska.[66]
In 2017 the Korean variety show Running Man shot an episode in Queenstown, where Haha and Yang-Se Chan took a penalty at the Nevis Swing.[67]
The 2020 crime drama One Lane Bridge was filmed in Queenstown. The series focuses on events that take place at a bridge over the Dart River / Te Awa Whakatipu.[68]
Education[edit]
Primary schools[edit]
Queenstown Primary School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students,[85][86] with a roll of 563 as of February 2024.[87]
St Joseph's School is a co-educational Catholic state-integrated primary school for Year 1 to 8 students,[88][89] with a roll of 134.[90]
There are also two primary schools in Frankton and a school in Shotover Country.[91]
Secondary schools[edit]
Wakatipu High School, a state secondary school for Year 9 to 13 students, is located in Frankton.[92]
Tertiary education[edit]
Southern Institute of Technology (SIT), based in Invercargill, has a campus in Queenstown.[93]
Queenstown Resort College is a tertiary education provider focussing on tourism. The college actively supports events for international travel agents.[94]
ACE Wakatipu has a community focus, and provides links to many adult training opportunities.[95]
Churches[edit]
Saint Joseph's church[edit]
Saint Joseph's Catholic church was built in 1898, it replaced the first catholic church built in Queenstown in 1863. It is built from schist sourced from Arthur's Point. Built in the Gothic Revival style, it was designed by the architect Francis Petre. It is a category two historic place.[98]
Infrastructure[edit]
Transport[edit]
Queenstown is accessible by road and air but not by rail (similar to Kaitaia, Taupō and Nelson).
As a resort centre, many bus services operate into Queenstown, mostly for package tours, but daily services for locals and others are available to and from Invercargill, Dunedin and Christchurch, the main cities closest to Queenstown. Bee Cards replaced GoCards on local buses on 15 September 2020.[99]
Queenstown Airport takes flights from Australia by airlines Air New Zealand, Qantas, Virgin Australia and Jetstar and has destinations that include Brisbane, Gold Coast, Melbourne and Sydney (the frequency is much increased over the ski season and during summer). Domestic flights fly to Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. Queenstown Airport is New Zealand's busiest helicopter base, also the fourth-busiest airport by passenger traffic, and is also heavily used for tourist 'flightseeing', especially to Milford Sound / Piopiotahi and Aoraki / Mount Cook, using both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft.
The primary road access to the Queenstown area is via State Highway 6 (SH6), from Cromwell through the Kawarau Gorge to Frankton, where a 9 km spur (SH6A) leads to the CBD and connects with the Glenorchy Road. SH6 continues south, crossing the Kawarau river before heading down the eastern side of Lake Wakatipu to Kingston before crossing the provincial boundary and emerging on the plains of Southland, terminating in the city of Invercargill. A difficult road over the Crown Range leads to Cardrona skifield and Wānaka, and is New Zealand's highest paved public road pass.[100]
Queenstown is the departure point for a large number of bus day trips to Milford Sound, which entails a return trip of approximately 12 hours. There are scenic flights available to and from Milford Sound. A return flight, including a two-hour cruise, is approximately four hours.
Queenstown (New Zealand) travel guide from Wikivoyage
Media related to Queenstown, New Zealand at Wikimedia Commons