She is one of the oldest tourist attractions in Central Otago, and the only remaining commercial passenger-carrying coal-fired steamship in the southern hemisphere.

[2] At the beginning of the twentieth century, New Zealand Railways (NZR) awarded a £20,850 contract to John McGregor and Company shipbuilders of Dunedin to build a steamship for Lake Wakatipu at their Otago foundry and engineering works.

Then the parts were loaded on to a goods train and transported across the South Island from Dunedin to Kingston at the southern end of Lake Wakatipu.

In 1984, the composer Ron Goodwin created a New Zealand Suite of six pieces recording his impressions of places he had visited.

One of these is the "Earnslaw Steam Theme" based on the rhythm of the ship's engines, which he wrote after a trip to Lake Wakatipu.

[13] In July 2013, the Southern Heritage Trust unveiled a plaque on the Dunedin Railway Station overbridge commemorating the location of the McGregor & Co factory where Earnslaw was built.

[14] In December 2017, the New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage recognised Earnslaw as one of twelve significant sites in Otago to be included in its Landmarks Whenua Tohunga programme.

[16][17] The Earnslaw celebrated her centenary in October 2012[18] and continues in routine operation carrying tourist passengers across Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown to Walter Peak High Country Farm, a tourism operation with farm tours, horse treks, heritage tours, barbecue lunches and evening dining at the historic Colonel's Homestead.

Visitors to the region can undertake a 1.5-hour cruise on board Earnslaw and view the workings of the steam engine and stokers.