Bushtown Waimate
$15,000 Project Development Manager
Bushtown Waimate is an open-air museum with an operating vintage sawmill and displays of vintage machinery, establishment of a Early Settlers sawmill village and a Totara forest. It is one of its kind in the South Canterbury region.
Bushtown Heritage Site is an outdoor 7-hectare site that has been established as a snapshot of the early European settler period between 1860 to 1920 and over 20 thousand native trees and shrubs have been planted by many people in the Waimate community, schools, organisations and friends of Bushtown who are supporters of the development of this heritage are site.
Bushtown Waimate tells the story of the pioneers and their efforts to harness the Totara Forest and native bush that surrounded the Waimate Township in 1860 until the great fire in November 1878. Bushtown Waimate celebrates the pioneering spirt and how the bush was utilised as a timber town and its journey to become the heart of a thriving district, unified by a proud heritage and an appreciation of its inherent value. The original idea was to develop a Heritage Park that would provide a permanent visitor attraction in Waimate of an international standard. The facility celebrates the history of the area, is becoming a visitor icon and contributes to the economic viability of the area.