Have a scroll through our digital timeline. It’s a great way for you to start to appreciate some of our history. It also enables you to jump around parts of our online portal, focussing on the topics which interest you the most.
As we add content to the portal, so we’ll add entries into this timeline.
1853: Nathanial Chalmers is the first European explorer to reach the Upper Clutha.
1857 – 1859: Edmund Jolly and William Young map the Upper Clutha area, but they were “unable to broach Cardrona Valley as a dense thicket of scrub obscured the entrance.” However their maps made it possible for potential run holders to make application for sheep runs in the future. Read more.
1858: Robert Wilkin acquired a huge run covering most of the (now) Upper Clutha, including the Cardrona Valley. The whole area was known as the Pisa Run. Read more.
February 1860: a group of six men, including William Gilbert Rees and Paul von Tunzelmann head to the Wakatipu to find suitable sheep country. They decide to head up the Cardrona Valley, making the first recorded ascent of the Cardrona Valley. Read more.
Christmas 1860: William Gilbert Rees and Paul von Tunzelmann drive a flock of several thousand sheep up the Cardrona Valley in three days after Christmas. Read more.
1860’s: the Crown Range Road was constructed using pick and shovel to move supplies by horse and dray.
14 August 1862: Gold, discovered in Central Otago, near present day Cromwell, is deposited in the Dunedin receiver’s office. The gold rush is on. Read more.
9 November 1862 gold was discovered in the Cardrona Valley.
21 November 1862 a report of gold at Cardrona appeared in the Otago Witness. Within seven days, approximately one thousand miners were fossicking in the Cardrona Valley. More here.
July 1863: heavy snowfall proves disastrous for miners in the valley. More here.
1865: mining population for Cardrona drops to about sixty in total.
1866: the Cardrona Valley’s most famous mining claim operation, the Gin and Raspberry, is founded.
1866: the first Chinese miners arrive in Central Otago.
1870’s: it is estimated that Chinese outnumber all other residents by two to one, due to the mining boom.
1870: Cardrona Valley hosts multiple successful horse races, but the success dwindles as people find it too difficult to get their horses to Cardrona.
1871: The individual who was to have the most influence on the Cardrona and its people, Robert McDougall, arrives.
1874: George Hassing purchases a claim near Tuohy’s Gully.
1878: The Cardrona River floods with devastating impacts for many miners and residents. Read more here.
August 1895: The All Nations Hotels burns to the ground in a fierce fire.
1890’s: Cardrona School has a roll in excess of 50 students.
June 1900: Alfred Lafranchi’s substantial residence burns to the ground.
February 1901: the Enright family’s house burns down.
1901: Lafranchi’s Freehold Gold Dredging Company is formed.
1903: having failed to make viable returns, Lafranchi’s dredging operation goes into receivership.
1915: Robert MacDougall, affectionately known as “Father of Pembroke”, dies at the age of 86.
1921: The Cardrona commonage is divided into plots of a size thought to be viable runs by melding together previously surveyed units.
1924: servicemen returning from the First World War settle on three pastoral farms in the Cardrona Valley. Read more.
1927-1961: Jim Patterson is the owner of the Cardrona Hotel. Read more.
1930: Wanaka Station is subdivided, providing three more farms in the Cardrona Valley. More here.
1948: Cardrona School closes at the end of the school year, never to open again.
1949-50: Rabbit Boards are formed. 28 professional rabbiters hunt in the Cardrona Valley.
1957: reticulated electricity finally makes it to Cardrona.
1970: the Cardrona Hotel goes up for sale and is purchased by John and Mary Lee, to be preserved.
1971: John and Mary Lee purchase Mt Cardrona Station with a view to developing a new skifield there.
12th February 1975: Jack Scurr addresses the Upper Clutha High Country Field Day, held at Glendhu Bay. “We could be defeated by rabbits.” Read more here.
1976: Rosemary and Eddie Jones buy the Cardrona Hotel off the Lees and lovingly restore it to its present state.
1979-1985: Controversy around the winter maintenance of the Crown Range road between Queenstown and Wanaka rages – with the road being locked at times by the council, and locals cutting the locks to let cars through. Read here.
6 August 1980: Cardrona skifield opens for its first commercial season, much to the delight of skifield founder John Lee. More about Cardrona here.
1984: John Lee makes his first application for a nordic ski area atop his farm, and receives the first of many rejections.
1984: Tim Scurr, Colin Robertson and Alistair Howison form a partnership to rework the area of the Cardrona Deep Lead extending from the township to Tuohy’s Gully – mining begins.
1988: The Cardrona Hotel is sold by the Joneses to S & J MacKnight. Read more.
1989: after years of applications, consent to develop a Nordic Area on the top of John and Mary Lee’s high country farm, Waiorau.
1990: the Snow Farm is officially opened, providing nordic skiing facilities to enthusiasts in New Zealand for the first time.
1995: the first “Merino Muster” ski race is held at the Snow Farm. It becomes a popular annual event.
1996: mining activities in the Cardrona Deep Lead area end.
1998: the Snow Farm lodge is built.
1999: the new owners of the Cardrona Hotel are Grant Lawrie, J O’Reilly and Mark Westcott. Read more here.
1999: Four bras mysteriously appear on a fence in the Cardrona Valley, sparking the beginning of the valley’s famous “bra fence”. Read more.
2002: the Snow Park is launched by Sam Lee. It became world renowned for snow boarding and skiing.
2002: Mark Westcott takes over as the sole owner of the Cardrona Hotel. More here.
2012: the Snow Farm is sold to the Pisa Alpine Charitable Trust, preserving it for future generations.
2013: James Jenneson & Cade Thornton become new owners of the Cardrona Hotel. Read here.
2019: the Cardrona bra fence continues to raise money to fight breast cancer. In 2019, the donations for the year exceed $150,000. More here.
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