Our History

In this section...

Origins of local names | The day the Russians came | Howden Homestead | Antimony Mines | The Furneaux Lodge bell | Endeavour Inlet holidays | The Modern Furneaux Lodge | The Queen Charlotte Track history

Origins of local names

The Māori name for Endeavour Inlet is Punaruawhiti, which may mean to cross over in pairs or it may refer to the fresh water springs in the bay. It also translates as twilight.

Captain Cook renamed it West Bay before it was dubbed Endeavour Inlet in the early 1840s by Captain Stokes of the HMS Acheron. Several landmarks in the bay are named in recognition of Cook’s visits, including Mount Furneaux for Tobias Furneaux, the English navigator who joined Cook during his second voyage in the Pacific.

He was one of the first men to circumnavigate the world in both directions, and later commanded a British vessel during the American Revolutionary War.

Mount Furneaux was originally called Puhikererū, which means decorated with feathers, or ‘the plume of the kererū’. The maunga or mountain is considered to be sacred by Māori and was used as a navigation aid and as a birding area.

The name is said to stem from when the great navigator Kupe came to Aotearoa with two birds including a kererū/pigeon named Rupe, who was to find fruit in the forest.

Rupe flew south to Te Wai Pounamu/South Island and joined local pigeons feasting on the plentiful food on the maunga, never to return to Kupe.

The day the Russians came

Just seven years before Te Rauparaha’s raids on local people of Tōtaranui, the Russians paid a visit.

This little-known moment in New Zealand’s history included friendly bartering with local Māori which resulted in the Russians heading home with a hold full of artefacts, many of which remain in Russian museums today.

The visit was part of the Russian Antarctic expedition of 1819-21, which was led by Commander Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and included two ships: the 900-tonne Vostok and the 531-tonne Mirnyi, captained by Mikhail Lazarev.

Their planned route to the Society Islands after visiting Australia was changed by the winds, which pushed them east and resulted in the decision to head for Queen Charlotte Sound/Tōtaranui, apparently chosen for Captain James Cook’s favourable recordings of Ship Cove/Meretoto from his visits in the 1770s.

It is said that, unlike Cook who met 400 local Māori on arrival, Bellingshausen was greeted by just 80 in 1820. The ships stayed for two weeks before weather forced them on their way again.

Antimony Mines

Situated at the head of the inlet is a retired antimony mine that was at one stage one of Marlborough’s largest industries, employing and housing more than 100 men and having a smelter, post office and school also on site. The mine comprised 60% antimony - a semi-metal used at the time; alloyed with lead for batteries, metal type for printing presses, flame retardant paints and enamels.

It is thought that the antimony deposits were discovered by John Ashworth in 1873, who lived at the head of the inlet and carried out intensive prospecting. Ashworth then formed Marlborough Antimony Company Ltd with a local syndicate in 1874, and also discovered a small amount of gold in the mines.

Ownership and opening/closing of the mine changed a number of times in these early days. The school appeared to open and close accordingly, finally closing in 1895. Mining physically ended in 1901 and many attempts over years to revive the mine failed, with the site being officially closed in the 1970s.

The area is now known as the Miner’s Camp. A fair portion of the location was then converted to smaller farm holdings, and presently predominately holiday homes with the surrounding farmland slowly reverting back to bush.

Endeavour Inlet holidays

Around the same time the Howdens established their holiday base, Endeavour Inlet started to become a popular holiday destination, with E C Perano advertising “cheap excursions” in 1908 to “favourite spot in Queen Charlotte Sound”, by steamer for passengers coming off the fortnightly “Excursion Train” to Picton from Blenheim.

In fact, in 1906, a reporter who travelled to Marlborough wrote “many people in the colony are ignorant of an easily accessible holiday resort” but noted that “citizens of Wellington have already built themselves summer residences for holiday resorts” in Resolution Bay and Endeavour Inlet which, in the report’s opinion, would become widespread for weekend Wellington visitors.

Patrick Howden died in 1914 and two years later ownership of the family property passed to Elizabeth and two of their daughters, Ada Howden and Amy Webb.

Members of the wider Howden family continued to holiday at Furneaux and in 1932 son Harry Howden, by then a distinguished navy captain who was living in Australia and later England, purchased the property. He flew in and out in his own private plane, bringing guests to his family bach.

While away, Harry employed ex naval man John Barker and his wife Hazel, from Australia, as caretakers.

Before retiring to the nearby Pines in the mid-1950s, the Barkers oversaw renovations and extensions to the house. In 1958, the Furneaux block was subdivided and the house and some land taken over by Elizabeth Highet, who owned it until 1964 when it was bought by Thomas Watkins of Lower Hutt.

In 1961 Harry bequeathed the land to the people of New Zealand as a 'scenic reserve and bird sanctuary' on the conditions that the forest was left standing forever and the shooting of birds was prohibited. Harry Howden died in 1969.

The beginnings of modern Furneaux Lodge

The lodge changed hands again in 1970, this time to Wellington chef Graeme Douglas Barry, who sold it a year later in 1971 to Frank and Vi Matthews of Christchurch under their company, Furneaux Lodge Limited.

The Matthews were the first owners to apply for a licence to operate Furneaux Lodge as a Tourist House Premises from the local council. This was granted in November 1977, prior to selling the leasehold in 1978 and the freehold in 1999. They ran the premises with their daughter and son-in-law June and Roger Cloudesley.

The Matthews, who had a holiday house in Punga Cove when they chanced upon Furneaux, immediately began upgrading the existing building and adding extra accommodation with independent chalets in what had been a sheep paddock. This was to be the start of Furneaux Lodge as an accommodation resort. The work also included a stone croft and stone boatshed, both built in 1975 from boulders out of the creek, as well as reclaiming some land for the boatshed and part of the jetty walkway.

When the Marlborough Electric Power Board announced it would run power poles and wires along the foreshore in front of the lodge, interrupting the beautiful view, a court case was needed to stop it. Power finally arrived at the lodge in 1976.

From 1978, Furneaux Lodge was run by a series of leaseholders and, from 1999, freehold owners. Initally, eight motel units/cottages that were built by the Matthews for guests during 1971, 1974 and 1980, were sold off to private owners with a leaseback arrangement in 1986 when all were unit titled. The lodge now own four of these cottages, with the other four still privately owned and under leaseback arrangement.

The lodge’s campground was closed in 2004 and waterfront suites added between then and 2006.

In 2018, Furneaux Lodge – along with Punga Cove across the inlet – was bought by the Burkhart family, who also own Marlborough Tour Company, Cougar Line, Wilderness Guides and Pelorus Mail Boat.