Founder of Queenstown

William Gilbert Rees
1827 ? 1898

Explorer, Runholder and First European Settler

?I saw an open country, not perfectly level but broken by small hills and terraces whilst a large Lake or Arm of a Lake stretched away in the distance almost as far as the eye could reach?
Founder of Queenstown, who with his wife Francis settled near this point in 1861 and built the first buildings by the Lake.
When gold was discovered in 1862, Rees was paid compensation of 10,000 Pounds for the part of his farm that included Queenstown and he moved to Kawarau Falls

We are off to a wedding today, and went by boat to Kelvin Heights, and attended a beautiful wedding on the foreshore, before returning to Queenstown by boat to the reception at Rydges Hotel. Wonderful day