The Mountaineer Room
In 2020, the Society completed the Mountaineer Room, which houses Queenstown's first maritime museum.
Inspiration
The Mountaineer Room was created after a wall was pushed through into the slipway. Named after an early paddle steamer the Mountaineer, that served Lake Wakatipu from 1879 until it was scrapped during World War II (as shown in the picture above)
The room is inspired by the dining saloon of the Mountaineer, and is an annexe to The Boat Shed Café, which was originally the New Zealand Railways shipping office.
Museum Display
The museum houses models of all the early Lake Wakatipu steamers, including the Mountaineer, another paddle steamer, Antrim, and Ben Lomond, loaned by Wayfare Group. There are photographs on display showing various aspects of life on the lake. Restored chairs from Mountaineer are also in the museum and café. Bruce Tantrum, of Auckland, painstakingly built a model of the steamship TSS Earnslaw, the only historic boat still in service on the lake, which takes pride of place.
The Project
Significant work was put into this project by Society volunteers and friends of the Society. Stay tuned for further information.