Wanaka Story- A History of The Wanaka, Hawea, Tarras and Surrounding Areas by Irvine Roxburgh.

Publisher: Otago Centennial Historical Publications, 1957, First Edition.

Very good hardback with jacket. Blue cloth boards have minor marks, and a little compression to spine ends, no inscriptions, light foxing to end-papers. Pages very good, a little foxing to edges. Jacket has some chipping and rubbing, spine is dulled down small tear and abrasion to top right corner. 274 pages, illustrated.

"The strange story of a Scotsman Maori chief whose tribe grazed moa! -- news was slow in the 1860s; Wanaka did not know of the Maori Wars until a North Island veteran wore his service medals to the local racecourse -- the notorious sheep stealer, MacKenzie is mentioned, with probable routes through which he drove his flocks. In this collection of ordinary and extraordinary anecdotes and facts the lively pioneering spirit of the settlement of the Upper Clutha valley is recorded. Every settlement in the region formed a distinctive type of community. The families of the woodcutters are mentioned; the early farmers, the acreage and the type of stocks they ran listed; the workers who were responsible for irrigation, road and bridge building are named. ; sporting bodies, local social events, the advent of tourism -- all possible information was gathered to make this book immensely entertaining . It is the story of the epic adventures of the early pioneers, explorers, surveyors, goldminers, and runholders in the Wanaka district, and essential reading for those descended from the settlers, or anyone who has ever lived in or visited this beautiful area."

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