The final tile has been laid on Wānaka’s newly imagined Te Ara Maumahara (memory path, formerly the Millennium Path) and the pathway has been officially blessed by Ngai Tahu.

Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) hosted a blessing of Te Ara Maumahara and Te Huruhuru’s Map on the Wānaka lakefront on Saturday (September 9), before the final tile was laid by a Te Kura o Tititea Mt Aspiring College history student.

The shared pathway runs along the Wānaka lakefront adjacent to Pembroke Park. 

Read more: Wānaka’s Millenium Path renamed Te Ara Maumahara

A group of people joined QLDC staff, mayor Glyn Lewers, deputy mayor Quentin Smith and members of the Wānaka Upper Clutha Community Board for the blessing and to walk along the path.

Wānaka Upper Clutha Community Board member Linda Joll walking the path with her dogs.

Long term local resident Frances Copeland was one of them.

She told the Wānaka App the new tiles looked good, but expressed disappointment that some of the history of the original Millennium Path had been lost.

She said the original pathway was about “families in the year 2000 in the community getting together and honouring what had happened, not just in Wānaka but in the world”.

“Most of [the tiles] in the original were paid for by the local people and they had the people’s family name on them. Well, that hasn’t been included. A lot of those people have died,” she said.

Two French tourists reading the tiles on Saturday morning.

However, Frances said the council has talked about installing an information board about the history of the pathway. 

Te Ara Maumahara’s tiles celebrate “an improved explanation of human history, cultural inclusion, and enhanced relevance to local history”, QLDC has said.

The pathway is packed with local and global history. 

In just a few short metres, tiles commemorate the building of the Wānaka Hotel - and the advertising for tourists - by Theodore Russell and Charles Hedditch in 1868; the last teacher at Albert Town (Christine Munro) in 1876 - the same year God Defend New Zealand was first performed; the opening of the Luggate flour mill in 1881; and the new Luggate punt operating at the Red Bridge in 1882 - the same year Hāwea Flat School opened.

PHOTOS: Wānaka App