It appears purchasing land in Wanaka has always been a case of swings and roundabouts, sometimes it goes smoothly, other times - not so much. 

Today’s land purchase hiccoughs are sometimes market driven or occur while waiting on the powers that be to approve new subdivisions, but as a recent article in the Upper Clutha Historical Records Society's (UCHRS) latest newsletter indicated, not much has changed over the past 150 years.

The uncertainty of land purchases was common among early settlers, with at least one of Pembroke’s (Wanaka’s first European name) founding fathers struggling for years to secure land in a township barely born.

Ken Allan, UCHRS treasurer and editor of the society’s newsletter ‘Those Were The Days’, delved into the thorny task of securing land titles in the nascent township in his article from the Summer 2020 edition. Ken has kindly permitted the Wanaka App to reprint excerpts from this article.

Buying Land in Wanaka: 1860s problems

In 1858 the General Assembly of New Zealand passed the Waste Lands Act which, in simple terms, allowed “unoccupied land on which Native Title had been extinguished” to be sold by the Crown for 5/- (shillings) per acre, opening the door for early settlers to farm the region.

Around that time, little settlements like Albert Town sprung up, usually at crossing points on the Clutha River and the few people who were there just built on the land at that locality – a simple process.

The first survey of Pembroke was conducted by John Connell in 1863.

In 1863 Irish-born land surveyor John Connell drew up surveyed plans for towns at Gladstone, Lake Hāwea (now known as John Creek); Newcastle, at the junction of the Hāwea and Clutha Rivers (now known as Albert Town); and Pembroke (now known as Wanaka). 

At Pembroke, he surveyed and named streets and sections along the lakefront, including Duncannon Street (now the lower section of Ardmore Street), Helwick, Dungarvon, Youghal, Roche, Dunmore and Brownston Streets, which formed the core of the township. (Pembroke Park was not even considered at that time.) 

This was classified as “Townland” and anything outside that surveyed area was known as Rural Land.

Even after John Connell published his survey the land stayed in its natural state, uninhabited for the next two years until 1865 when the Otago Waste Lands Board decided to auction off the surveyed sections with the auction to occur on September 29, 1865. 

Theodore Russell’s four acres of land on which the Wanaka Hotel with associated stables and buildings is clearly marked on this map.

What was sold at auction is unknown as nothing was reported. That, however, might have a lot to do with the confusing land sale advertisements published in local newspapers which referred to “Newcastle, commonly called Cardrona” and “Pembroke commonly called Alberton”, suggesting the Waste Lands Board based in Dunedin might not have known exactly what it was selling.

What is known is that the township’s first building didn’t occur until 1867- 68 when founding fathers Theodore Russell and Charles Hedditch built the Wanaka Hotel on unsurveyed land. 

The elevated site selected was clearly not part of the Townland area but had been identified by Theodore Russell as ideal for the hotel with a magnificent view stretching out to Roys Bay and the mountains beyond.

In 1866 The Otago Wastelands Act came into being and it limited the land that could be purchased as being either Townland or Rural Land which caused some concern for the hotel plans. 

The chosen hotel site was on Rural Land but there was a clause in the new Act requiring Rural Land to be sold in blocks of at least 50 acres, and Theodore Russell only wanted to purchase 12 acres.

It is suspected the Otago Waste Lands Board granted him a licence to occupy (or some similar agreement) at least four acres on which to build the hotel. This section was bounded by Bullock Creek at the lower end and stretched east up Ardmore Street to the former library (now the QLDC offices).

His chance to purchase the freehold land didn’t occur until the creation of a new category of land - Suburbans Lands - under the Otago Waste Lands Act 1872. But even this new category wasn’t perfect as the legislation only allowed for surveyed land and it had to be auctioned.

So in 1873 - at his own expense - Theodore surveyed 12 acres of land and in early 1874 petitioned the Board to purchase this land. His petition was declined more than once but in 1875 the Board authorised a new survey to be completed which included the four acres in which the hotel and its associated buildings stood and his wife was eventually granted freehold title in 1877 - after Theodore had died. 

This extension plan of Pembroke, conducted by district surveyor A. R. MacKay in June 1875, provided for 87 sections along the lake’s northern foreshore, connecting Duncannon Street (now Ardmore) with Beach Street (now Lakeside Drive) and rising up the terrace to Lismore Street.

A later map supplied further historic detail of Pembroke with the several landowners clearly named as owners of multiple town centre sections, including Theodore Russell’s wife Celia and brother Thomas, as well as prominent businessman Robert McDougall.