Skippers Canyon

Today accessed from Queenstown via the same road that leads to the Coronet Peak skifield, Skippers Canyon is carved out by the Shotover River.

The Shotover, one of New Zealand's richest gold-bearing rivers, was named by William Gilbert Rees who with his wife Frances and brother-in-law Nicholas von Tunzelmann were the first European settlers in and near where Queenstown is now.

[5] Two Māori miners, Dan Ellison (Raniera Erihana) and Hakaria Maeroa travelled to a secluded gorge in Skippers Canyon.

At shore, he observed some particles of gold in the crevices of the rocks and started to examine the sandy beach beneath.

[5] Today, only very little remains of Charlestown in Skippers Canyon: stones of a fallen chimney, a small plaque and an explanation booth mark the area.

[5] Born in Northern Ireland, Duncan served for a number of years on American ships, hence the nickname 'Skipper'.

[1] Next to Duncan, several other gold miners took claims in the area of Skippers Point where they remained working on them until the early 1900s.

[5] The remains of their water races, holding dams, sluicings and tailings of the established claims are still obvious today.

Today, only the remains of Mount Aurum Station's Homestead and the restored Skippers School as well as the cemetery are visible.

In order to make the access to Skippers safer and to be able to bring in heavy machinery for the gold miners, the demand for a proper road grew.

[4] This comment, however only meant figuratively, nicely explains the enormous costs and difficulty involved not only in forming the road but also in maintaining it.

The local rock is so soft that under the traffic it quickly turns into dust in dry weather and to greasy mud in wet.

Under these conditions it is no surprise to learn that initially motor vehicles were banned from driving on Skippers Road at the beginning of the 1900s.

[4] By the time of its completion the gold rush was basically over, but some future-oriented people of the Queenstown district saw potential in the use of Skippers Road as a tourist attraction.

[7] The court ruled that Skippers Road could be used by cars, but drivers were obliged to give plenty of warning of their travel plans by applying for a permit.

Illustrated History of Central Otago & the Queenstown Lakes District by Gerald Garrick Cunningham (2005, Reed Publishing, Auckland).