William and Frances Rees

William Gilbert Rees was the older cousin and godfather of England's greatest cricketer (W. G. Grace, who was named after Rees), and was himself a pioneer of cricket in New Zealand.  More important, however, was his role as the pioneer run-holder in the Wakatipu district and the first settler on the site of what is now Queenstown.  Rees was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales, in 1827.  He was the eldest of four children and the son of a naval officer, William Lee Rees.  Rees completed his primary education at a private school in Bristol run by his grandfather.  He went on to the Royal Naval School at Camberwell in London where he proved to be a great all-rounder and earned a Humane Society medal for rescuing someone from the Hungerford Canal.  He served time in an engineering apprenticeship but then taught at a school in Exeter.

In 1852 Rees emigrated to Australia, spending time on the New South Wales goldfields and managing sheep runs in Queensland. He and his cousin George Gilbert were the top scorers for New South Wales in the second ever cricket match against Victoria.

In 1858 he returned to England and married his cousin, 19-year-old Frances Gilbert. They then emigrated to New Zealand, arriving in Wellington on the Equator in early 1859. Their first child was born in Dunedin four months later. William took up a sheep run near Tapanui and applied for licences to depasture sheep in the Wakatipu area, which was not yet surveyed. In early 1860 he led a party to explore the region, and his reports in the Dunedin newspapers first publicised the great pastoral potential of the far-distant interior.

In 1861 William and Frances established their homestead at the head of Lake Wakatipu, on the future site of Queenstown. Just over a year later they were overrun by prospectors as news of gold finds in the area sparked the third major Otago gold rush. The Rees sheep run became a vital source of supplies to the miners and William won renown for the way he rationed out the available food with authority and fairness – but backed by his fists and guns. He earned the nickname ‘King Wakatip’ but his run was no longer viable. The family moved to the nearby Kawarau run instead. There they hosted the touring All-England cricket eleven, a side that included another Grace cousin. In 1867 the family left the Wakatipu district.

William had lost much of his equity in his sheep runs through failed mining investments. He went on to manage various Otago runs before becoming a stock inspector for the government. He died in 1898 aged 71. Frances survived him by 28 years, passing away in 1926. Their family names are preserved all over the Wakatipu, especially in the Rees River and Valley, as well as in Frankton (named for Frances).