Jamestown, Martins Bay

Jamestown, Martins Bay

The Jamestown settlement was set up on Lake McKerrow/Whakatipu Waitai by the Otago provincial government in 1870, and by 1872 a township was under way. This account of a government expedition to the area that December notes some of Jamestown’s problems – lack of supplies, distance from other settlements, and the ever-present sandflies and mosquitoes – as well as the behaviour of the locals’ daughters. The town was too isolated, and by 1882 had been largely abandoned, though a few settlers remained at Martins Bay. Today old rose bushes and apple trees mark the site.