That's Jack's Point pictured directly below the mighty Remarkables. It's approximately 5kms from the the highest point of Double Cone (top of The Remarkables) to the entrance of Jack's Point!
Jack’s Point is named after Jack Tewa who was known as “Maori Jack” in the 1860’s. He originated from Thames in the North Island and worked for William Rees who was the first European settler in Queenstown and had a farm that covered much of the Queenstown basin and beyond. In August 1862, Jack was sailing to Kingston from Queenstown with two other men when a storm blew up and their boat was capsized on the far side of the lake, opposite where Jack’s Point is today.
Jack was a strong swimmer and could have swum to shore, but he stayed to help the others. After an hour of clinging to the keel, one of the men sank and drowned. Jack held on to the remaining man, James Mitchell, to prevent him slipping away. Eventually Jack managed to right the boat by swimming under it and cutting the sails and mast free. Chanting a Maori song, Jack then rowed 2 km in a boat full of water to shore. Once ashore, Jack covered Mitchell with wet blankets and bracken and set off on foot to find help. Jack ran 30 kms to Mount Nicholas Station, the only dwelling on the far side of the lake and arrived at night. Then the station’s owner, Nicholas von Tunzelmann, rowed 20 kms to Rees’s homestead at Queenstown Bay.
It was morning when a search party headed by Rees rescued Mitchell who survived the cold night by a sheepdog, who had gone missing the year before, lying on him and keeping him warm. Jack was awarded a medal from the Royal Humane Society and Mitchell gave him a silver hunting watch in appreciation of his bravery and strength. The community also raised donations and bought Jack a dray and a team of bullocks. Jack started a business carrying goods during the gold rush.
It was in the same month, August 1862, that Jack Tewa first discovered gold in the Arrow River. His find sparked the gold rush that is a defining part of Queenstown’s rich history.
William Rees had his family home and farm base in what is now Queenstown’s CBD. When the gold rush began, Queenstown was declared a goldfield and his pastoral lease was cancelled. He moved his family home to Kawarau Falls near where the Hilton Hotel is today and moved his pastoral activities from the Shotover Run, which was central to the gold rush, to the southern runs where Jacks Point and Kelvin Heights are today. The farm was named Kawarau Falls Station.
In 1865 Rees sold Kawarau Falls Station and moved north to Blenheim. Between 1865 and 1922 the station reduced in size to 46,000 acres due to boundary adjustments and sales. In 1922 Dickson Jardine bought Kawarau Station. In 1941 he took his two sons into partnership with him and in 1947 the station was subdivided between them creating Kawarau Falls and Remarkables Stations. In 1960 Kawarau Falls was sold. In 1973, Dickson Jardine’s son also named Dickson, took his two sons into partnership with him in Remarkables Station and subdivided the property between them.
In 1999 Dickson Jardine sold 1,000 acres to Jacks Point Limited. In 2008 the Jacks Point golf course was completed and settlement of the residential neighbourhoods took place over the next ten years. Jack’s Point now covers 3,000 acres. Jack’s Point farm is part of the original Remarkables Station established by William Rees and farmed by the Jardine family for four generations.
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