Fiordland or Te Rua-o-Te-Moko Heritage - Cascade Creek, Eglinton Valley, late 1950's

Shared by Central & Western Murihiku Southland Archive

Fiordland or Te Rua-o-Te-Moko Heritage - Cascade Creek, Eglinton Valley, late 1950's: We were very fortunate to be donated a lot of old tourist slides and photos of the Fiordland or Te Rua-o-Te-Moko area and heritage sites within that. This is one from the 1950's, showing an earlier view of the Cascade Creek in the Eglinton Valley. The buildings here we have been told, are from Cascade Creek on the Milford Road and they reportedly look much the same as when a local who has provided us with this information, lived there about 1959. The building on the left was the kitchen, dining room, canteen and a bedroom. We are further informed that the huts on the right were ex Ministry of Works huts for the Milford Road build. In this photo these buildings were part of the tourist accomodation venture run by the Automobile Association Southland. Apparently the the building on the left ended up as staff accommodation when the main buildings and lodge accommodation was built, according to a former worker at the site. Another local with a lot of knowledge states that there are 8 of the old Cascade Camp Huts at the Manapouri Holiday Park and two of these have old writing on the doors from as far back as the 1930s. There are no buildings there now, the newer lodge was wiped out in heavy flooding. Cascade Creek was also not the only Accommodation site lost due to heavy flooding, with the Gunn's Camp site at the nearby Hollyford Valley also wiped out and damaged irreparably due to a landslide caused by flooding, but much more recently. More on this will be detailed in another entry later. With this happening, we can appreciate just how tough the early pioneers who set up tourism in this area were, when dealing with frequent wild weather events of the past. If anyone else can help us with further information, that would be really great. Please contact us or add a comment to this entry as below. Earlier on, after being 'discovered' by surveyor McKerrow in the 1860's, later when tourism started to foray into Fiordland, the original Cascade Creek Accommodation House was built. William Anderson of Milford Trails, writes that in August 1969, his son Bert took over the Cascade Lodge. SOME EARLY HISTORY: Mount Eglinton and the Eglinton River were named by the early explorer James McKerrow, on his trip to survey the area which started in 1862, under the direction of the Chief Surveyor of Otago, JT Thomson. It was not until 1863 that McKerrow reached the features he then named Eglinton, after his homeland in Ayrshire, where Eglinton Castle - the Earls residence, was situated. He named many of the surrounding peaks after places in his native Ayrshire. On this particular trip, after a poor start to the years surveying efforts as they became blanketed in fog and trapped by that districts torrential rain, finally they found their 'promised land'. After they had restocked their low provisions at the nearest Station (Hodges), they carried on up the now Eglinton Valley, where McKerrow writes that, "The Eglinton River takes its rise by two branches (the east and the west branches) from the mountains that bound the head of Milford Sound. They unite below the east side of Mt Eglinton and flow through a deep gorge to reach the open country owned by Mr Hodge." VISITING IN THE CURRENT DAY: DOC - Department of Conservation, tells us that here at Cascade Creek in northern Fiordland, they have a standard campsite which is good for larger vehicles. For more information on this site, see the Place Notes below. COMMUNITY MEMORIES: Rozanne Burnby tells us that her parents managed Cascade Camp between 1956 and 1959 so this was probably at the time the above photo was taken. "Best valley in the world!!" was the response by Gerry Oudhoff, who said they had holidayed here at Cascade every Xmas for about 35 years. The window you can see was my room in 1974, says Helen Warburton Ellis. Nadine Tauri says, that there were red petrol bowsers when we lived there. Archivists comment: At the CWA Community & Heritage Hub, operated by Central & Western Archive - Murihiku Southland, we have books, records and photos on the history of this area, bush, mountains, tracks and more. Hopefully this entry will be added to as more information on the history comes to hand. If you or anyone you know has any more information or photos to share or accounts of Cascade Creek, the Eglinton Valley or this wider area of Fiordland or Te Rua-o-Te-Moko, please do share this with us in the comments section. You can do this by making a comment in the space provided under the image page. Or you can make contact with us as per the archive front page.