History in Motion: Travelling through Time on the TSS Earnslaw

New Zealand is a young country, but a country with a lot of history all the same. This includes the amazing lake steamer, the TSS Earnslaw.

LIVING in Queenstown has its attractions. Not just the scenery.

But also the history.

That sounds like a contradiction in terms for New Zealand, right?

Well, no. Queenstown’s nearly 160 years old now. If you look really closely at the building at the extreme top left, you can see that it was built in 1872.

Ballarat Street, Queenstown, in the great flood of 1878. This section of Ballarat Street is now called The Mall. Image MA 1259793, Te Papa.

It’s all still there. Though the wild colonial town’s a bit more cafe-society these days.

There’s lots of old gold-mining pubs in the outlying areas, too. Like this one, serving drinks since 1863.