Lakes District Museum

30/08/2026

THE BRIDGE THAT OUTLIVED THE GOLD RUSH!

How many times have you crossed the old Kawarau Falls Dam Bridge?

A century ago today, on the 30th August 1926, people gathered at Kawarau Falls to watch an extraordinary experiment begin: the lowering of the gates of the newly completed Kawarau Falls Dam. About 2,000 people witnessed the event which was hailed as a great national engineering achievement.

The ambition was enormous. ‘Great Expectations’ the headlines said. The Kawarau Gold Mining Company believed that by holding back Lake Whakatipu, the river below the Falls could be drained and all of its supposed gold deposits exposed. There was just one problem. Once the gates were closed, the water level barely fell and little gold was ever found, causing the many investors to lose all their money. The flow into the Kawarau River downstream from Kimiākau Shotover and Haehaenui Arrow Rivers meant that the river level didn't fall below the level of the river at the Shotover Delta.

The gold venture may have failed but the bridge didn’t! The roadway across the top of the dam had been a condition of the original licence.
What began as part of a speculative mining scheme ultimately provided a vital land link between the Whakatipu and the route south, a role it continued to perform until the new Kawarau Falls Bridge opened in 2018.

Today, the Kawarau Falls Dam Bridge carries walkers and cyclists rather than streams of cars.

Happy 100th to the Kawarau Falls Dam Bridge. A remarkable survivor of the changing history of our district.

Image references:
"Great Expectations" Evening Post 31 August 1926
Kawarau Falls postcard EL5854
Closing of the Gates August 30th 1926 EL2852

26/08/2026

Know your place: Mt Beetham

Have you ever walked to the top of Mt Beetham? It's a challenge to the calf muscles!

Standing above Arrowtown on the Crown Terrace, 929 metre high Mt Beetham is one of the area’s most distinctive landmarks. Its unusual shape is more than just a striking feature of the landscape. It is also evidence of the glaciers that once shaped the Whakatipu.

Mt Beetham is a roche moutonnée (literally ‘sheepback’), a glacial landform created as moving ice passed over and shaped the underlying rock. The western, or up-glacier, side was smoothed by the movement of the ice, while the eastern, down-glacier side is steeper and rougher, where rock was plucked away by the glacier.

But where did the name come from?

The mountain is thought to have been named after Richmond Beetham. After working as a Gold Receiver at Dunstan, the 27 year old Beetham was sent to the Arrow in early 1863, at the height of the gold rush.

By May that year, he was serving as Resident Magistrate and Warden for the Arrow District. His first ‘courtroom’ was a rather unimpressive 12 by 16 foot tent, which could hold only about eight people. Witnesses and onlookers often had to stand outside and, apparently, oaths were even mistakenly sworn on a cookbook!

Remarkably, Mt Beetham had already acquired its name by July 1863, only months after Richmond Beetham arrived. For miners travelling towards the Whakatipu goldfields, the isolated cone was also an important landmark: a signpost that they were nearing the Arrow.

So next time you look towards Mt Beetham, you’re looking at both a relic of the glaciers that shaped our landscape and a link to Arrowtown’s gold rush history.

Do you have a favourite view of Mt Beetham? Share your photos in the comments. We’d love to see this distinctive Arrowtown landmark from your perspective.

Images:
EL0453 Mt Beetham at centre-left from Bush Creek
EL1850 Mt Beetham from Soldier Hill c.1940s
EL7723b Mt Beetham from Soldier Hill 2007

15/08/2026

August is Family History Month!

Every family has a story worth telling.

Whether your family history is carried through whakapapa, old photographs, treasured heirlooms, letters, or stories passed down through generations, every story helps us better understand who we are today.

This Family History Month take some time to sit down with an older member of your whānau or family and ask about their life. Record their memories on your phone, write down their stories, label old photographs together, or simply spend time listening. These informal oral histories are often the most precious records we can leave for future generations.
Check out this bible in our archives from a local cribbie family which has family lineage handwritten inside.

Lakes District Museum
Russell Family Collection #2026.2.1

Need inspiration? The Arrowtown Post Office sells beautiful ‘Paper Time Capsules’ which you can complete with your own stories.

We'd love to hear from you! What's the oldest family photograph, taonga, or treasured heirloom in your whānau? Or have you ever recorded the stories of an older family member? Share your experiences in the comments.

13/08/2026

Know Your Place

Tucker Beach

Have you ever walked, cycled, or played frisbee golf at Tucker Beach on the banks of the Kimiākau | Shotover River and wondered where its name came from?

Local tradition says Tucker Beach was named during the gold rush because there wasn't enough gold there to make a fortune; only enough for miners to earn their tucker (food).

But the history of this place stretches back much further than the gold rush. Long before miners arrived, the Kimiākau was part of a vast network of ara tawhito traditional travel routes for Māori. Today, a nohoanga (seasonal occupation site) at Tucker Beach continues to provide Ngāi Tahu with a place to maintain their connection to the awa and surrounding whenua.

Tucker Beach is now an important wildlife haven. The gravel beaches and terraces carved by the river provide a vital habitat for braided river species, including the banded dotterel, black-billed gull, black-fronted tern, little s**g, black s**g, and kōtare (sacred kingfisher). The grassy terraces are also home to native lizards.

Since 2017, the Tucker Beach Wildlife Trust has been transforming the area into a wildlife reserve https://www.tuckerbeachwildlife.org.nz/about

Today, Tucker Beach is enjoyed by locals and visitors alike for its walking and cycling trails, frisbee golf course, and wildlife reserve.

Images: Lakes District Museum Collection
EL6333 Tucker Beach c. 1960
EL8118 Big Beach Dredge at Tucker Beach

05/08/2026

Wakatipu High School
SHOWING OFF

Opens tomorrow night at 6pm

30/07/2026

Our favourite artefacts...

Not every museum collection includes a wall of cigarette packets… but ours does! The question is, is there anything quite like it anywhere else in New Zealand?

The weathered boards were once part of the historic woolshed at Arranmore, and is on what is now a piece of land between the Queenstown Events Centre and the Queenstown Airport.

The weathered boards from the shed are covered with 196 to***co and cigarette packets and tins, left behind by shearers for over 40 years.

Farming on the Frankton Flats began as early as 1866, making this a fascinating snapshot of rural life and changing consumer habits.

Alan Hamilton, who was once a shearer in the shed, recalls the remarkable history of the building in his book 'Woolshed Yarns of the Wakatipu', describing the collection of to***co packets as "out of this world."

The boards were donated to the museum by Mary Hansen, daughter-in-law of Charles Hansen, who purchased Arranmore Farm in 1941.

Today, they are on display in the museum, preserving this unique piece of local history.
Can you recognise any of the brands? We'd love to know if you remember seeing any of them!

LDM Collection:
Image: EP3126 Charles Hansen with draft horses outside the Arranmore shed.

Object ID X0207: Pictures of the to***co packets in situ inside the shed as well as safely preserved and on display in the museum.

29/07/2026

The interior of the Arrowtown Post Office is looking much lighter and brighter this week!

A huge & heartfelt thank you to Brendon and the team from Queenstown Painting Services as well as Four Square Arrowtown and Resene for generously donating paint to help with the refresh. You guys are unfailingly generous to our community in so many ways.

Queenstown Painting Services went above and beyond and even came in on a Saturday to get the job done. Incredible.

The Arrowtown Post Office is operated by the Lakes District Museum and we are a trust-run museum committed to retaining essential postal services in Arrowtown.
Support like this makes a real difference and reminds us how lucky we are to live in such an amazing community.

29/07/2026

Know Your Place: Waiariki | Stevensons Arm, Lake Wānaka

Pictured in the background of this aerial photo, between Parakārehu | Stevensons Peninsula and the mainland, is the stunning stretch of water known as Waiariki or Stevensons Arm.
The European name came from John Stevenson the manager of the East Wānaka Station in the 1860s.
The Māori name Waiariki has a much older history as Parakārehu was an important settlement of the Waitaha people.

In 1844, the southern Ngāi Tahu leader Te Huruhuru included Waiariki on a map he drew for government agent Edward Shortland. Shortland, however, mistakenly interpreted Waiariki as a separate lake.
The area was also home to Haimona Rakiraki (Rakitapu), a respected authority on southern Māori history and traditions. He recorded that he once lived at Waiariki before later moving to Te Karoro (Willsher Bay) on the Otago coast.
https://kahurumanu.co.nz/atlas

In the middle of Stevensons Arm lies the 65-hectare, bush clad Te Peka Karara/Pōkainamu | Stevensons Island.

Every place has a story and by learning these original names, we help keep the rich history of our region alive.

Photo courtesy of Otago Daily Times: Loris King Collection 2001

08/07/2026

The Winterstellar Exhibition opening has been postponed but you can visit the exhibition from 10th July to 2nd August 10am-4pm every day.

Join us this Thursday 9th July at 6pm for the opening of the 2026 Winterstellar Astrophotography Exhibition!

06/07/2026

Join us this Thursday 9th July at 6pm for the opening of the 2026 Winterstellar Astrophotography Exhibition!