Bullock teams hauling supplies to early settlers were a regular sight in Wanaka’s early days and the fatal misstep of a bullock, which fell into the creek running through Wanaka (then named Pembroke) and broke its neck, led to the naming of Wanaka’s Bullock Creek.

Gems of historic information about Bullock Creek and its environs feature in new information panels recently added to Wanaka’s popular boardwalk over the Bullock Creek Hatchery Springs wetlands.

Two new information panels have been erected along the boardwalk, which runs through the Bullock Creek wetlands between Stone Street and Sapphire Spring Rise Road, in Meadowstone.

Friends of Bullock Creek (FOBC) Trust secretary Roger Gardiner said local residents Helen Howarth and Eddie Spearing had done a great job gathering information and working to put the story boards together.

Two of four new information panels provide an informative interlude along the boardwalk.

One of the panels describes the Bullock Creek Hatchery Springs landscape plan and provides information on the flora and fauna visible in the area, including whistling tree frogs and various native birds.

The second panel displays the history of the site and its surrounds, including nineteenth century uses of the creek by a slaughterhouse and a piggery and Pembroke’s first school, which opened with 22 pupils in 1880, and a home for its head teacher which were both located on the banks of Bullock Creek. 

Seventy years later the creek was Wanaka’s first volunteer fire brigade’s primary source for fighting fires in the town centre and the creek was the source of Wanaka township’s first reticulated water system - built in 1962.

The two panels yet to be completed will feature information on the spring aquifer, which stems from the Cardrona River, and the environmental importance of the wetlands, as well as detailed information about the brown and rainbow trout resident in the creek and their breeding cycles and habitat.

A project to remove overgrown vegetation beside the creek and replace it with native plants is ongoing.

Also added to the boardwalk and at bridges crossing the creek throughout town are new steel signs promoting an awareness of the creek. Funding assistance from the Graham and Olive West Charitable Trust contributed to the creation of the seven laser cut steel signs. 

FOBC’s Jacquie Staley said promoting a community awareness and “ownership” of the creek was important for the creek’s future as locals would be “more conscious of better enjoying it and protecting it”.

“Also by naming the unmanned spring it might become a bit of a trail or focal point for children,” she said, leading them up the creek as far as the hatchery and boardwalk. 

The FOBC’s programme to clear overgrown vegetation and replant with natives throughout the wetland area is also continuing with regular working bees roping in volunteer assistance, as well as the use of people carrying out hours of court-ordered community service. And a new loop track connecting a viewing platform with the main boardwalk is also underway.

In recent years, Bullock Creek has been the centre of unwanted attention when stormwater from the adjacent Alpha Rise residential development overflowed more than once into the creek’s pristine spring waters.

Roger said a solution to divert the subdivision’s excess stormwater away from the creek was proposed by the Queenstown Lakes District Council more than a year ago but he’s still waiting for detailed information about the proposal - it’s ‘certainly taking some time”, he said.

PHOTOS: Wanaka App