Editing Queenstown, New Zealand (section)

===Māori settlement and presence===
The area was discovered and first settled by [[Māori people|Māori]]. [[Kāi Tahu]] say that the lake was dug by the Waitaha  ancestor, Rākaihautū, with his kō (digging stick) named Tūwhakaroria. After arriving at Whakatū [[Nelson, New Zealand|Nelson]] in the waka Uruao, Rākaihautū divided his crew into two. He led one group through the interior of Te Waipounamu, digging the freshwater lakes of the island. After digging the lakes Hāwea, Wānaka, and Whakatipu Waimāori, he travelled through the [[Greenstone River|Greenstone]] and [[Hollyford River|Hollyford]] valleys before finally digging [[Lake McKerrow / Whakatipu Waitai|Whakatipu Waitai (Lake McKerrow)]].<ref name="KaHuruManu">{{cite web |title=Atlas — Cultural Mapping Project — Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu |url=https://www.kahurumanu.co.nz/atlas |website=www.kahurumanu.co.nz |access-date=18 October 2022 |archive-date=18 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221018080101/https://www.kahurumanu.co.nz/atlas |url-status=live }}</ref>

The first non-Māori to see Lake Wakatipu was European [[Nathanael Chalmers]] who was guided by Reko, the chief of the Tuturau, over the Waimea Plains and up the [[Mataura River]] in September 1853.<ref>Miller., F.W.G., (1949), Golden Days of Lake County. Whitcombe and Tombs. p 3-11.</ref> Evidence of stake nets, baskets for catching eels, spears and ashes indicated the Glenorchy area was visited by Māori. It is likely [[Ngāi Tahu]] Māori visited Queenstown en route to collect [[Pounamu]] (greenstone). A settlement called Te Kirikiri Pa was occupied by the tribe of [[Kāti Māmoe]] which was situated where the [[Queenstown Gardens]] are today, but by the time European migrants arrived in the 1860s this settlement was no longer being used.<ref name="Spiritual bond to first people">{{cite web|title=Spiritual bond to first people|url=http://www.odt.co.nz/your-town/queenstown/42208/spiritual-bond-first-people|work=[[Otago Daily Times]]|date=6 February 2009 |access-date=6 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924130036/http://www.odt.co.nz/your-town/queenstown/42208/spiritual-bond-first-people|archive-date=24 September 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>