Story: South Canterbury region

Page 11. Mackenzie Country

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One part of South Canterbury is an area of national distinction. The Mackenzie District has New Zealand’s highest mountains, and its waters have become one of the country’s most important sources of energy.

Folk hero

The area is named after James Mackenzie, a shepherd and would-be farmer. He was captured for allegedly stealing sheep from a large sheep run, but claimed innocence and escaped. He was recaptured and sentenced to five years’ hard labour, but escaped twice more. Later, his trial was found to have been flawed, and he was pardoned. Said to be immensely strong physically, he was admired as a rebel who challenged the powerful and wealthy in a class-conscious community.

The Hermitage and Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park

The first scenic reserves in Aoraki/Mt Cook's Tasman and Hooker valleys were set aside in 1887. The Murchison valley was added in 1917 and the Godley valley in 1927. These reserves were consolidated as Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park in 1953. The park’s extent is now 72,164 hectares.

This area was explored by Julius Haast in 1862. Early visitors camped near White Horse Hill (where the first Hermitage hotel opened in 1885) or at Governors Bush (where the second Hermitage opened in 1914, and the third in 1958). The first mountain huts were built near the Ball Glacier in 1891 and below Mt Malte Brun in 1898.

Conquering Cook

In 1882 the first attempt was made on Aoraki/Mt Cook, New Zealand’s highest mountain (then 3,764 metres). It was first climbed by the New Zealanders Tom Fyfe, George Graham and Jack Clarke in 1894. In 1948 a young climber, Edmund Hillary, was in a party which made the first ascent of the mountain’s south ridge. Five years later he and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were the first to climb Mt Everest. The face-climbing era that began in the 1950s culminated in the first ascent of the Caroline Face in 1970.

Developing tourism

In 1906, Rodolph Wigley founded the Mt Cook Motor Service, which leased the Hermitage hotel from the government between 1922 and 1945, and became a major tourist company. In 1955 his son, Harry Wigley, landed a ski-equipped plane on the Tasman Glacier, starting a new era in tourism at Aoraki/Mt Cook.

Snow dogs

Where the former Ball Hut Road now ends, there is a small area known as Husky Flat. In 1956 husky dogs that were to go south with the New Zealand Antarctic Expedition were tethered there for three months before being moved up to the Malte Brun hut for winter training on the Tasman Glacier. In 1929, 15 huskies brought to New Zealand for an American expedition to Antarctica had helped haul building materials for a new Malte Brun hut.

Jet-boats

As well as the Wigleys, the Mackenzie Country was home to another significant New Zealand innovator. In 1921, farmer and engineer Bill Hamilton bought the Irishman Creek station, where he was soon designing and building earth-moving and other heavy machinery. In 1945 C. W. F. Hamilton and Co. opened a factory in Christchurch. In the early 1950s Hamilton pioneered a jet-boat suitable for use on the shallow rivers of the area. Now HamiltonJet, the company has sold these craft all over the world.

Recreation

Aoraki/Mt Cook remains a principal tourist destination, and the Hermitage is one of the country’s premier hotels. Helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft fly sightseers from airfields at Tekapo and Aoraki/Mt Cook. A tourist centre has developed at Glentanner, between Pūkaki and the Hermitage, and there are holiday homes at Lake Tekapo and Twizel.

Hydroelectricity

The possibility of using the rivers and lakes of the Mackenzie Country to generate electricity was recognised in 1904. In 1938, work began on a dam, tunnel and powerhouse at Lake Tekapo, but the station was not commissioned until 1951. A control dam was also built at the outlet to Lake Pūkaki, to make summer meltwater available for power generation in winter.

Upper Waitaki scheme

Construction of the Upper Waitaki power scheme began after the Benmore and Aviemore stations on the lower Waitaki had been built. A construction town was built at Twizel, and a canal took Lake Tekapo water to a new powerhouse on the shore of Lake Pūkaki. Beyond Pūkaki, the flows from Lakes Tekapo, Pūkaki and Ōhau were combined to flow through three more power stations. Lake Pūkaki was raised by a total of 37 metres (trebling its volume) and a new lake, Ruataniwha, was formed by a dam on the Ōhau River.

The four new stations had a combined capacity of 848,000 kilowatts, and came online in the 1970s and early 1980s. The scheme is important to New Zealand as a whole: more than 50% of the country’s hydroelectric storage is in Lakes Tekapo and Pūkaki.

How to cite this page:

John Wilson, 'South Canterbury region - Mackenzie Country', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/south-canterbury-region/page-11 (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by John Wilson, published 28 Feb 2007, updated 1 Feb 2017