[4] The origins of the settlement lie 20 kilometres (12 mi) away, on the coast at Gillespies Beach, which underwent a gold rush in the 1860s.

As the amount of gold being recovered declined, most of the population, including the Sullivan family of miners, moved on.

Patrick Sullivan moved inland with his friend Fred Williams to try farming in an area known as the Weheka Valley.

[5] Julia Sullivan married Fred Williams in 1893 and built a farmhouse on the Cook River flats near the present site of the settlement.

[5] Access to the settlement was still via the sea: boats would land at Gillespies Beach, and goods were unloaded in the surf and carried by horse and dray back to Weheka.

The road north to Waiho (now Franz Josef / Waiau) was very poor: surveyor Charlie Douglas wrote in the 1890s, "…when I came through that way, I left the track and took to the bush as being far better walking."

[7][8] The village is 6 km (3.7 mi) from the eponymous Fox Glacier, and a similar distance from Lake Matheson.

[12] Other local attractions include: Fox Glacier is described by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement and covers 2.81 km2 (1.08 sq mi).

[30]: 115  Manawa Energy owns the 3 MW Wahapo hydroelectric power station, 20 km (12 mi) north of Franz Josef.

[31] New Zealand Energy owns a small 500 kW hydro generation scheme using water from Lake Gault.

[32] The Westland District Council owns and operates reticulated water and wastewater systems in the town.

[35] The wooden church was built in three months, at a cost of £690, by Robert Emmett Clarke of Whataroa, and includes stained-glass windows and statues donated by settlers in the area in memory of deceased relatives.

[38][39] The church was named in honour of the Reverend William Douglas (c. 1837–1920), who was the Presbyterian minister in Hokitika between 1881 and 1907, and served as moderator of the General Assembly in New Zealand in 1882.