Historic Otago High Country Sheep Station… And Home to a Little Known Otago Gold Mining Story
One of Otago’s high country sheep stations for the preceding 140 years, Criffel Station was converted into a deer farm by Mandy and Jerry Bell in 1993.
From the 1870s through the early 1900s the Criffel Range was alive with gold mining activity, with much of the activity related to getting essential water to the diggings in the dry alpine environment.
And efforts to secure water for farming the station are a big party of the property’s history.
Early Station History
Named after Criffel, a small Scottish town near surveyor James McKerrow’s home, the Criffel Range was farmed under 14 year crown licenses from the late 1850s.
Early pastoralists Robert Wilkin and H.S. Thomson outlined and gained a license for a high country station incorporating the range in 1858.
In 1860, like all Upper Clutha stations, Criffel Station was acquired by Henry Campbell as part of the new Wanaka Station. Throughout the 1860s musterers enjoyed the stunning views in relative solitude while other parts of Otago were bustling with people in search of gold.
In the 1870s lonely musterers were joined in the high country by prospectors from the Cardrona Valley fossicking for gold. John Halliday, who was both prospector and musterer, and most-likely employed as the latter on the sheep station, was reportedly among them.
1870 – 1900: A Forgotten Chapter in Otago Gold Mining History
It was Halliday and his cousin Alex Beattie that found gold on the eastern summit slopes of the Criffel range in 1883.
Over the next 20 years the Criffel range’s peace was disturbed as the gold rush reached its 1350 metres heights. Hardy men battled the extremes of climate and a challenging lack of water on Otago’s highest gold diggings. Halliday was prominent throughout, conquering the water problem with a hand-built 24km water race and taking a good share of the gold found.
But just how much gold was actually found is a bit of a mystery. Official numbers appear inadequate…
(Read the full story of Criffel’s chapter of Otago gold mining history.)
The town that supported the miners was in decline from the mid 1890s but a small number of miners bought and sold the all-important water races and hunted out the remaining gold.
Early 1900s: Farming Re-energised & Wanaka Station Broken Up
In the early 1900s a galvanized steel water race, possibly government supported, was put in with the focus shifting from providing water for gold mining to providing irrigation for farming purposes.
Meanwhile, with the Upper Clutha plagued by rabbits, the huge Wanaka Station was broken up into smaller farms and Criffel Station was re-established.
In 1910 the property was bought by Dr. George Morris of Cromwell in 1910 for his son George Jr. to farm sheep. And in 1918 George Jr. returned from World War I and drawing the neighbouring Lake McKay Station in a ballot, combined it into the family’s land on Criffel.
1960s: The Bells Take Over & Continue the Search for Water
Hector Bell and his family purchased Criffel Station in 1966 and began work on a dam from Luggate Creek to provide irrigation and stock water.
By 1967 Hector was leading a team of farmers establishing New Zealand’s largest irrigation scheme of the time providing water to Criffel Station and surrounding farms, irrigating 2,000 acres and costing approximately $16,000.
1990s: Deer Take Over & Criffel is No longer a High Country Sheep Station
Jeremy and Mandy Bell purchased Criffel Station in 1993 and converted it into a commercial and stud breeding deer farm. In 1995 they purchased Frenchman’s Creek and combined it with the station. Over the next five years the property was deer fenced, pastures renewed and irrigation schemes updated and extended.
Today the Station runs several thousand Eastern European hinds and finishes the offspring with the focus primarily on venison production. There is a strong affinity for sustainability of the land and people at Criffel Station for future generations.
Enjoy a little of the history and high country atmosphere of Criffel Station:
