The rise of hot water in Hanmer Springs
It’s not often you come across a person who doesn’t have cherished memories of Hanmer Springs. From school camps to wedding anniversaries and significant birthdays to just escaping the city, the memories created in Hanmer Springs are endless and span generations.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of Hanmer Springs’ first dressing shed (technically 151 years, but like all good celebrations last year, Covid got in the way).
To celebrate the occasion, Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa is taking a trip down memory lane to see where these memories first began.
According to historians, the first dressing shed was built in Hanmer Springs in 1871 by Mr John Fry. He built the shed and put in steps to the hot springs so his customers of the Jollies Pass Hotel could benefit from the thermal pools.
The site became a public establishment in 1883 when the Crown fenced it off for the paying public, and by 1884, work was underway to build a bathhouse.
Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa general manager Graeme Abbot says the village has certainly come a long way since the first single dressing shed sat on a very exposed site in the Hanmer Basin.
Segregated nude bathing was the order of the day in the early years, and hoisting the appropriate clothing (skirt or trousers) up a pole to indicate the gender of the moment controlled this. Later, separate pools were introduced and, finally, mixed bathing – but swimmers had to be clothed, of course.
Graeme says the pools are steeped in history and at its heart is community spirit and support that can’t be beaten.
“From the get-go, it was the support of the community that made the thermal springs the tourism destination it is today. We can’t thank our community enough for helping us reach this milestone,” says Graeme.
For some 15 years prior to 1978, community groups had to fight to secure and source Government funding to develop the pools into a larger-scale complex that would enable people to reap the health benefits of the thermal springs.
As for the discovery of the thermal springs, it is believed early Māori first happened on the springs while passing through. While they never settled there, the discovery of ancient native umu (ovens) indicated travellers’ camps or signs that they had stopped and taken rest.
Historians identified it was some years later, in 1859, when an announcement in The Lyttelton Times marked a discovery of “hot water springs” by Mr William Jones. While he believed he was the first to “make them generally known”, in the same year, Julius von Haast wrote about a visit to Hanmer Basin thermal springs in his journal.
The anniversary commemorations kick off in September, and visitors to the pool complex will be able to see the historic shed pictured on its original site and capture themselves in historical dress.
Community events are being planned to acknowledge all those who have supported the pools over the last 150 years.