Queenstown Police Station

The area of responsibility covered by the Queenstown Police extends from Kingston in the south, to the Crown Range summit in the north, and from Glenorchy and its environs in the west, to the Roaring Meg power station in the Kawarau Gorge in the east.

The police station site has been used since gold was found nearby in Arrowtown and on the banks of the Shotover River in 1862.

The Otago Daily Times reported that robberies were numerous and frequent drunkenness prevalent, with pick-pocketing complaints common.

In 1867 there were police stations at Queenstown, Arrowtown, Frankton, Skipper's, Maori Point, Nevis, Nokomai and Cardrona.

[6] Almost daily practically all the police staff at Queenstown Station travelled to Frankton where the first court sat[7] in McBride Street.

[8] The original police station in Queenstown can be seen at the same site in early photographs with a stable, small cell, and house alongside.

The current police station was designed by architects Mason and Wales and opened on Friday 10 July 1998 by Hon.

In addition to this are: In 1862, Irishman Sergeant Major Hugh William Bracken arrived in Arrowtown as part of the Otago Mounted Police.

Bracken had fought in the Crimean War for the British Army's 5th Inniskilling Dragoons so was no stranger to battle, conquest and resolution.

A Protestant and a loyalist, his imposing frame and immense power proved priceless in the rugged, untouched wilderness of Central Otago.

Until this point miners had been keeping large sums of money in gin boxes or other insecure places.

In June 1900 he opposed the granting of 11.00pm licences on the grounds that; 'it is not to be tolerated that tourists landing at Queenstown at 10 o'clock, or later, should find the hotels in semi-darkness, and the whole town on a night footing.