Sites include early Maori trails, occupation sites, and stone working sites right through to the more recent industrial heritage of mining and the timber industry. There are places of international significance where world history has been made, as well as more humble places that speak of everyday family life, human struggle and triumph.
A range of places that represent this breadth of history have been designated as 'actively managed'. The aim for these places is to ensure their conservation, to create a memorable visitor experience, and share the stories they tell.
This is a basic four-bunk hut in the Southland area. This is one of the oldest musterer’s huts remaining in Southland.
Finger posts guided shipwrecked sailors to castaway depots - and a better chance of survival on desolate subantarctic islands.
The Antipodes Island Castaway Depot meant the difference between life and death for those shipwrecked on this lonely island in the treacherous Southern Ocean.
Now an internationally recognised nature reserve, Campbell Island has a unique human history. The island was farmed, used as a base for sealers and whalers and served as a wartime coastal defence site.
The smallest hut in the land, Dog Box Hut captures the lost era of the horseback high country muster.
People who took on sheep farming at Stewart Island did the hard yards. Learn about the island's longest running sheep farm.
Water supply could make or break fortunes during the Southland gold rush. A series of races were built to service the workings including Port’s Race, Martin’s Race and Turnbull’s Race.
The Sandy Bay Boatshed was a lifeline for shipwrecked survivors to row to the main castaway depot on Auckland Island.
Built in 1880, Stella Hut on Enderby Island is the earliest surviving and most complete of the original castaway depots still standing.