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Queenstown
Tāhuna (Māori) | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Queenstown from Bob's Peak | |
 | |
| Coordinates: 45°01′52″S 168°39′45″E / 45.03111°S 168.66250°E | |
| Country |  New Zealand |
| Region | Otago |
| Territorial authority | Queenstown-Lakes District |
| Named | January 1863 [1] |
| Founded by | William Gilbert Rees |
| Electorates | Southland Te Tai Tonga |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Glyn Lewers |
| • MPs | |
| Area | |
| • Urban | 86.61 km2 (33.44 sq mi) |
| Population (June 2023) | |
| • Urban | 29,000 |
| • Urban density | 330/km2 (870/sq mi) |
| • District | 52,800 |
| Time zone | UTC+12:00 (NZST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+13:00 (NZDT) |
| Postcode(s) | 9300 |
| Area code | 03 |
| Local iwi | Ngāi Tahu |
Queenstown (Māori: Tāhuna)[3] is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It has an urban population of 29,000 (June 2023).[4]
The town is built around an inlet called Queenstown Bay on Lake Wakatipu, a long, thin, Z-shaped lake formed by glacial processes, and has views of nearby mountains such as The Remarkables, Cecil Peak, Walter Peak and just above the town, Ben Lomond and Queenstown Hill.
The Queenstown-Lakes District has a land area of 8,704.97 square kilometres (3,361.01 sq mi) not counting its inland lakes Hāwea, Wakatipu, and Wānaka. The region has an estimated resident population of 52,800 (June 2023).[4] Neighbouring towns include Arrowtown, Glenorchy, Kingston, Wānaka, Alexandra, and Cromwell. The nearest cities are Dunedin and Invercargill. Queenstown is known for its tourism businesses, especially adventure and ski tourism.
Toponymy
Tāhuna, the te reo name for Queenstown, means "shallow bay".[5]
There are various apocryphal accounts of how Queenstown gained its name, of which the following appears to be the most likely: "When William Rees first arrived in the area and built his homestead, the area was known as The Station although miners soon referred to it as The Camp from 1860 to 1862. The miners, and especially the Irish, had taken an interest in the ceremony held for a town called Cobh in Ireland (then part of the United Kingdom) which was renamed Queenstown in honour of Queen Victoria in 1850.[6]
There was then a public meeting to name the township on the lake in January 1863 (probably the weekend of the 3rd and 4th) in which the town was officially given the name of Queenstown in reference to Ireland's Queenstown. By 9–10 January 1863, the town was being reported with the name of Queenstown in several reports written by a correspondent in the Otago Witness on 5 and 6 January.[7][8]
History
Māori settlement and presence
The area was discovered and first settled by Māori. Kāi Tahu say that the lake was dug by the Waitaha ancestor, Rākaihautū, with his kō (digging stick) named Tūwhakaroria. After arriving at Whakatū Nelson in the waka Uruao, Rākaihautū divided his crew into two. He led one group through the interior of Te Waipounamu, digging the freshwater lakes of the island. After digging the lakes Hāwea, Wānaka, and Whakatipu Waimāori, he travelled through the Greenstone and Hollyford valleys before finally digging Whakatipu Waitai (Lake McKerrow).[9]
The first non-Māori to see Lake Wakatipu was European Nathanael Chalmers who was guided by Reko, the chief of the Tuturau, over the Waimea Plains and up the Mataura River in September 1853.[10] Evidence of stake nets, baskets for catching eels, spears and ashes indicated the Glenorchy area was visited by Māori. It is likely Ngāi Tahu Māori visited Queenstown en route to collect Pounamu (greenstone). A settlement called Te Kirikiri Pa was occupied by the tribe of Kāti Māmoe which was situated where the Queenstown Gardens are today, but by the time European migrants arrived in the 1860s this settlement was no longer being used.[5]
European settlement c. 1860
European explorers William Gilbert Rees and Nicholas von Tunzelmann were the first non-Māori to settle the area. Rees established a high country farm in the location of Queenstown's current town centre in 1860, but the discovery of gold in the Arrow River in 1862 encouraged Rees to convert his wool shed into a hotel named the Queen's Arms, now known as Eichardt's.[11]
Many Queenstown streets bear names from the gold mining era (such as Camp Street) and some historic buildings remain. William's Cottage, the Lake Lodge of Ophir (now Artbay Gallery), Queenstown Police Station, and St Peter's Anglican Church lie close together in a designated historic precinct.
1999 flooding
There was a severe weather event in the South Island in November 1999, bringing torrential rainfall in the catchments of Lake Wakatipu.[12] The level of the lake rose from 310.5 m to 312.77 m, leading to the most severe flooding in the recorded history of Queenstown. Properties in central Queenstown close to the lakeshore were flooded up to 1 m deep, causing major damage. Total insurance claims were around $50 million. Properties in Glenorchy and Kingston were also flooded, and the road from Queenstown to Glenorchy was damaged by washouts.[13][14]
Geography
Queenstown is situated on the shore of Lake Wakatipu, the third largest lake by surface area in New Zealand. The town is located close to the lake's northeastern bend, at which point a small arm, the Frankton Arm, joins the lake with its principal outflow, the Kawarau River. The centre of the town is on the north shore at the point where the Frankton Arm links with the main body of the lake, but also extends to the major suburb of Frankton at the eastern end of the arm, and across to Kelvin Heights on the Kelvin Peninsula, which forms the Frankton Arm's southern shore.
The town is at a relatively low altitude for a ski and snowboarding centre, at 310 metres (1,020 ft) above sea level at the lake shore, but is nestled among mountains, most notably the scenic attraction of The Remarkables, to the town's southeast. Below the lake lies the deep Kawarau Gorge, and there are nearby plains suitable for agriculture[citation needed] and viticulture. Queenstown lies close to the heart of the Central Otago wine region.
Suburbs
Central Queenstown contains many businesses, apartments and homes but is near many suburbs or large areas of housing: Fernhill, Sunshine Bay, Queenstown Hill, Goldfield Heights, Marina Heights, Kelvin Heights, Arthurs Point and Frankton.
Just outside Queenstown are the areas of: Arrowtown, Closeburn, Dalefield, Gibbston, Jack's Point, Hanley's Farm, Hayes Creek, Lake Hayes Estate, Shotover Country and Quail Rise.
.jpg)
Climate
Because of its relatively moderate altitude (310 metres) and high mountain surroundings, Queenstown has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb).[15] Summer has long warm days with temperatures that can reach 30 °C while winters are cold with temperatures often in single digits with frequent snowfall, although there is no permanent snow cover during the year. As with the rest of Central Otago, Queenstown lies within the rain shadow of the Southern Alps, but being closer to the west coast the town is more susceptible to rain-bearing fronts than nearby Cromwell, Wānaka and Alexandra. The hottest recorded temperature in Queenstown is 34.1 °C (93 °F), while the coldest is −8.4 °C (17 °F).[16]
| Climate data for Queenstown Airport (1981–2010), extremes (1968–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 33.4 (92.1) |
32.2 (90.0) |
30.0 (86.0) |
25.1 (77.2) |
21.3 (70.3) |
19.4 (66.9) |
17.0 (62.6) |
19.7 (67.5) |
23.3 (73.9) |
26.0 (78.8) |
28.5 (83.3) |
30.0 (86.0) |
33.4 (92.1) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 21.7 (71.1) |
21.5 (70.7) |
18.7 (65.7) |
15.1 (59.2) |
11.5 (52.7) |
8.3 (46.9) |
7.7 (45.9) |
9.9 (49.8) |
12.9 (55.2) |
15.3 (59.5) |
17.6 (63.7) |
19.8 (67.6) |
15.0 (59.0) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 15.7 (60.3) |
15.4 (59.7) |
13.0 (55.4) |
9.6 (49.3) |
6.7 (44.1) |
3.9 (39.0) |
3.1 (37.6) |
5.0 (41.0) |
7.6 (45.7) |
9.8 (49.6) |
11.9 (53.4) |
14.1 (57.4) |
9.7 (49.5) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 9.7 (49.5) |
9.3 (48.7) |
7.3 (45.1) |
4.2 (39.6) |
2.0 (35.6) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
−1.6 (29.1) |
0.1 (32.2) |
2.3 (36.1) |
4.3 (39.7) |
6.2 (43.2) |
8.4 (47.1) |
4.3 (39.7) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 0.3 (32.5) |
0.5 (32.9) |
−1.6 (29.1) |
−4.5 (23.9) |
−8.8 (16.2) |
−10.3 (13.5) |
−8.9 (16.0) |
−7.8 (18.0) |
−5.0 (23.0) |
−4.2 (24.4) |
−2.1 (28.2) |
−0.4 (31.3) |
−10.3 (13.5) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 63.9 (2.52) |
48.1 (1.89) |
52.7 (2.07) |
56.0 (2.20) |
70.1 (2.76) |
72.1 (2.84) |
49.2 (1.94) |
68.7 (2.70) |
66.8 (2.63) |
65.6 (2.58) |
67.6 (2.66) |
76.4 (3.01) |
757.2 (29.81) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 7.2 | 6.2 | 7.4 | 7.4 | 9.0 | 9.2 | 6.9 | 9.1 | 8.5 | 8.8 | 7.6 | 9.6 | 96.9 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 70.2 | 74.3 | 75.8 | 78.4 | 81.1 | 83.8 | 83.3 | 80.5 | 73.1 | 70.9 | 67.5 | 69.4 | 75.7 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 230.3 | 207.3 | 187.0 | 145.4 | 87.8 | 71.8 | 88.3 | 120.0 | 153.6 | 197.7 | 216.6 | 223.5 | 1,929.2 |
| Source 1: NIWA Climate Data[17] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: CliFlo[18][19] | |||||||||||||
Flood risk
Low-lying areas of Queenstown that are close to Lake Wakatipu are at risk of flooding because during heavy rain and snowmelt, the outflows of the lake via the Kawarau River are less than the inflows and the lake level can rise significantly. Further, the outflow down the Kawarau River is impeded by the large delta of the Shotover River – a major tributary. There is also a narrow gorge that restricts flow in the Kawarau river. As a consequence, Queenstown has been flooded several times since its establishment, and there is an on-going risk of flooding in low-lying areas.[20] As the lake level rises, backflow through the town's stormwater system leads to flooding in some Queenstown streets when the lake level reaches 311.3 m. This has occurred around 20 times since 1878. In any one year, there is a 13 percent chance that the lake will reach this level, and a 75 percent chance of at least one event that exceeds this level in a 10 year period.[21]
Demography
Queenstown is described by Statistics New Zealand as a medium urban area with an area of 86.61 km2 (33.44 sq mi).[2] It had an urban population of 29,000 (June 2023),[4] making it the 24th-largest urban area in New Zealand. In 2016, Queenstown overtook Oamaru to become the second-largest urban area in Otago, behind Dunedin. Prior to 2023, the Queenstown urban area as defined by Statistics New Zealand didn't include Lake Hayes or Arthurs Point, which are contiguous with Queenstown but were designated as separate urban areas.
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 10,428 | — |
| 2013 | 11,334 | +1.20% |
| 2018 | 13,539 | +3.62% |
| Source: [22] | ||
Before the 2023 census, the town had a smaller boundary, covering 28.40 km2 (10.97 sq mi).[2] Using that boundary, The Queenstown urban area had a population of 13,539 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 2,205 people (19.5%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 3,111 people (29.8%) since the 2006 census. There were 4,254 households. There were 7,089 males and 6,447 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.1 males per female, with 1,341 people (9.9%) aged under 15 years, 4,887 (36.1%) aged 15 to 29, 6,264 (46.3%) aged 30 to 64, and 1,041 (7.7%) aged 65 or older.
Ethnicities were 71.2% European/Pākehā, 4.5% Māori, 1.2% Pacific peoples, 17.8% Asian, and 10.5% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities).
The proportion of people born overseas was 58.3%, compared with 27.1% nationally.
Although some people objected to giving their religion, 58.5% had no religion, 29.1% were Christian, 2.8% were Hindu, 0.6% were Muslim, 1.7% were Buddhist and 3.4% had other religions.
Of those at least 15 years old, 3,234 (26.5%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 759 (6.2%) people had no formal qualifications. 1,692 people (13.9%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 9,165 (75.1%) people were employed full-time, 1,263 (10.4%) were part-time, and 138 (1.1%) were unemployed.[22]
| Name | Area (km2) | Population | Density (per km2) | Households | Median age | Median income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frankton | 7.62 | 2,895 | 380 | 1,017 | 32.8 years | $39,300[23] |
| Frankton Arm | 1.20 | 1,917 | 1,598 | 603 | 31.2 years | $41,200[24] |
| Kelvin Heights | 9.28 | 1,170 | 126 | 447 | 43.4 years | $44,800[25] |
| Queenstown Central | 0.81 | 1,017 | 1,256 | 261 | 30.0 years | $34,300[26] |
| Quail Rise | 6.27 | 708 | 113 | 234 | 40.5 years | $49,200[27] |
| Queenstown East | 0.98 | 1,416 | 1,445 | 441 | 30.5 years | $38,800[28] |
| Sunshine Bay-Fernhill | 1.31 | 2,931 | 2,237 | 861 | 29.6 years | $37,600[29] |
| Warren Park | 0.94 | 1,485 | Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Queenstown,_New_Zealand