A Little
History

The gold rush hit in 1862 turning the area from being a peaceful farming district into a shanty town and within a few months more than 1,500 miners were camping out, in the hope of making their fortune. Within two years the gold began to run out and in 1864 the miners followed the rush to the West Coast where more gold had been found.

Income tax on the gold had been a big source of income for the region, so the government invited Chinese miners to work on the Otago goldfields. More than 5000 Chinese were living and working in the area by the 1870s. They worked hard to find gold left behind after the initial rush, but few made enough money to return home. They set up market gardens and worked as builders to supplement their meagre income and lifestyle.

Infrastructure put in place during the gold rush made it easier for tourists to get to Queenstown and hotels were built in the mid 1870s.

Tourism kicked off when tourists started flocking to Queenstown in summer for hiking but it wasn’t until the 1940s when the Mount Cook Company began marketing Queenstown’s reputation also as a winter resort. In 1947, the company hired “a” ski instructor and installed a tow rope on Coronet Peak.

1960 saw the first commercial jet boat rides and in 1988 the world’s first commercial bungy jumping began thanks to entrepreneurs, AJ Hackett and Henry Van Asch.

F a s t f o r w a r d 30 years and Queenstown not only has an abundance of activities on offer but being only a half hour drive from the Gibbston Wine Region, it is now also a world class destination for wine enthusiasts of all degrees… and this is where we come in…