History
HURUNUI GATEWAY HISTORY
New Zealand, it is thought, was colonized by people from East Polynesia probably during the thirteenth century.
From those early days of human habitation the Hurunui area has been a gateway to the rugged hinterland and across the Southern Alps to the West Coast. People travelled up the Weka Pass, Waipara, Hurunui, and Waiau rivers and crossed the divide via Hokakura (Lake Sumner) and various alpine passes.
Traces of early settlements have been found along the coast, including at the mouth of the Hurunui River, and it is likely that people travelled inland up the rivers to hunt and forage for food. Artifacts consistent with the moa hunting era have been found at the Weka Pass Rock shelters. Later, from about the 16th century journeys between east and west were made for trading the sacred Greenstone (Pounamu – nephrite), used for making tools, weapons, and ceremonial artifacts.
Europeans settled in the area in the mid 19th century. They grazed corriedale and merino sheep over huge areas of scrub and grassland. The first wool was exported to England in 1856. “Runs” – some of up to 60,000 hectares with maybe 100,000 sheep, stretched from the East coast to the Alps. Later they were subdivided into smaller estates and farms. Wheat growing became a major industry between the 1870′s and 1880′s, and then, the advent of refrigerated shipping made possible the huge growth of lamb and mutton production for the English market.
Between 1850 and 1866, first road and then rail transport were dveloped via the Weka pass between the Canterbury Plains, and the inland Hurunui country, linking farms, mills, markets and ports. During the 1860′s the newly discovered gold fields of the West Coast resulted in hugely increased traffic over Harper Pass and major road building on this ancient route was begun. Due to political reasons this road over the Alps was never completed, but it can be travelled today as far as Lake Sumner.
Commercial tourism, now established here as a major economic activity, began with the opening of the Hanmer Lodge, in 1897 and Hanmer is now part of a network of tourist destinations, that includes alpine and ocean-based recreation, and the rapidly developing vineyard district.
Hurunui Hotel
Hurunui may well be best known by the hotel that shares its name with the river Hurunui [huru(hair) nui(large or plentiful). In 1860, a smal hamlet was established beside the Hurunui River on (now) State Highway 7. The Hurunui Hotel first opened its doors for drovers moving sheep from Nelson to Christchurch for stock sales and is still open to weary travellers today.