Nicholas von Tunzelmann (also known as Nicholas Paul Balthasar Tunzelmann von Adlerflug or Paul Nicholai Balthasar Tunzelmann von Adlerflug, with his surnames often Anglicised as Tunzelman, 1828 – 31 July 1900) is famous as one of the first two European explorers to explore

Lake Wakatipu Lake Wakatipu () is an inland lake (finger lake) in the South Island of New Zealand. It is in the southwest corner of the Otago region, near its boundary with Southland, New Zealand, Southland. ''Lake Wakatipu'' comes from the original Māori l ...

and the site of the future town of

Queenstown, New Zealand Queenstown () is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is the seat and largest town in the Queenstown-Lakes District. The town located on the northwestern edge of Lake Wakatipu, a long, thin, Z-shaped lake ...

in 1860. He and fellow explorer William Gilbert Rees were the first Europeans to settle the

Wakatipu Basin The Wakatipu Basin is a plain surrounded by mountains in Queenstown Lakes District, in the southern South Island of New Zealand. At the south west corner is found the Queenstown suburb of Frankton, Otago, Frankton and Queenstown Airport. This ...

. Tunzelmann was born on the island of

Ösel Saaremaa (; ) is the largest and most populous island in Estonia. Measuring , its population is 31,435 (as of January 2020). The main island of the West Estonian archipelago (Moonsund archipelago), it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hi ...

, Livonia, in the Baltic Sea (present day

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

). He studied in Germany, Switzerland, and England. He studied medicine in Canada then London, but decided to go to India in the cavalry service as a veterinary surgeon, and studied at the

Royal Veterinary College The Royal Veterinary College (informally the RVC) is a veterinary school located in London and a member institution of the federal University of London. The RVC was founded in 1791 and joined the University of London in 1949. It is the oldest an ...

. He was naturalised in England at the age of 21. He came to New Zealand in 1858. He married Gertrude Rose Gilbert. She was the sister of Frances Rebecca Gilbert, who married William Rees. He established a high country farm at Mount Nicholas on the western side of Lake Wakatipu (i.e. opposite Queenstown). Business partners were his brother-in-law (Pickett) and a Wellington sheep farmer (Edward Pharazyn, a son of

Charles Johnson Pharazyn Charles Johnson Pharazyn (11 October 1802 – 16 August 1903) was a wiktionary:runholder, runholder, merchant, and member of the New Zealand Legislative Council who lived beyond 100 years of age. His obituary in the Wellington newspaper describe ...

). Pharazyn pulled out of the partnership when 1,500 of the 2,000 sheep bought by him in Melbourne died on the journey. Tunzelmann had bad luck over land regulations and lost all his capital. Encouraged by his sister, he tried fruit farming in New South Wales, Australia for five years before returning when he heard his 100-acre section at Lake Wakatipu might be lost. He died in Frankton Hospital on 31 July 1900. His wife died on 21 April 1918. The Von River, Von Valley, and Mount Nicholas—all located on his station adjacent to Lake Wakatipu—are named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Von Tunzelmann, Nicholas 1828 births 1900 deaths Settlers of New Zealand Settlers of Otago Queenstown, New Zealand Von Tunzelmann family