Nicholas von Tunzelmann (also known as Nicholas Paul Balthasar Tunzelmann von Alderflug or Paul Nicholai Balthasar Tunzelmann von Alderflug, 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 ( mi, Whakatipu Waimāori) 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. ''Lake Wakatipu'' comes from the original Māori ...

and the site of the future town of

Queenstown, New Zealand Queenstown ( mi, Tāhuna) is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It has an urban population of The town is built around an inlet called Queenstown Bay on Lake Wakatipu, a long, thin, Z-shaped lake formed b ...

in 1860. He and fellow explorer

William Gilbert Rees William Gilbert Rees (6 April 1827 — 31 October 1898) was an explorer, surveyor, and early settler in Central Otago, New Zealand. He and fellow explorer Nicholas von Tunzelmann were the first Europeans to settle the Wakatipu basin. Rees is reg ...

were the first Europeans to settle the

Wakatipu Basin The Whakatipu 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 and Queenstown Airport. This is where the b ...

. Tunzelmann was born on the island of

Ösel Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring . The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island and west of Muhu island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago. The capital of the island i ...

, Livonia, in the Baltic Sea (present day

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

). 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 , mottoeng = Confront disease at onset , established = (became a constituent part of University of London in 1949) , endowment = £10.5 million (2021) , budget = £106.0 million (20 ...

. 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 runholder, merchant, and member of the New Zealand Legislative Council who lived beyond 100 years of age. His obituary in the Wellington newspaper described him as a man of much ...

). 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. She was survived by two sons and three daughters. The

Von River The Von River is a river in New Zealand, flowing into Lake Wakatipu. It was named after explorer Nicholas von Tunzelmann. See also * List of rivers of New Zealand References Rivers of Otago Rivers of New Zealand {{Otago-river-stu ...

Von Valley The term ''von'' () is used in German language surnames either as a nobiliary particle indicating a noble patrilineality, or as a simple preposition used by commoners that means ''of'' or ''from''. Nobility directories like the '' Almanach de ...

, and

Mount Nicholas Mount Nicholas is a 1,465-m mountain, standing 5.5 nautical miles (10 km) south-southwest of Cape Brown, and forming the northern limit of the Douglas Range on the east side of Alexander Island, Antarctica. First seen and roughly charted f ...

—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