This cache is the third in a series of four puzzle caches. It is
only after finding the first three that the final cache will be
able to be found. To complete this cache it might be necessary to
engage the services of a local muggle or local cacher.
The town "centre" is not too far from
Atonement and Personality, picking this up may put you in the
vicinity of knowledgeable muggles.
The co-ordinates are in the format S46 AB.CDE E168 FG.HIJ
Please carefully reconceal the 200mL screwtop sample bottle
Establishment and Selected Early History
There is no record of Maori settlement at the Wyndham site prior
to the arrival of pakeha settlers, the nearest definite site being
the kaika at Tuturau. In 1853 the Murihiku block was bought from
Maori and in 1854 Dr JAR Menzies (1821-188(B-1)) took up the
Dunalister run which included the future site of the township. In
1855 he began stocking the run taking 25 days to drive a mob of
more than 200 sheep from Dunedin. Incredibly only eight were lost
on the journey and those were mostly from tutu berry poisoning.
The township was initially surveyed into five blocks in
186H and gazetted as a town district in August, 1882. The
first sections were sold in 18C0. Churches were established,
Catholic (1884), Presbyterian (1885) and Anglican (18B3).
The Wyndham Branch line was opened in 188I and operated
until 1962. There is little evidence of the line left today, though
a J01m tunnel on the line to Glenham (the 2nd southernmost rail
tunnel in NZ) still exists but is on private farmland.
In the 1860s mail deliveries came as far as Mataura. One had to
pay a carrier who travelled there to collect the mail on foot. It
wasn't until 191G that a post office was opened in the town
(it was opened by Sir Joseph Ward).
Gold was discovered on the Dunalister run in 1864 and a small
goldrush ensued. The result was two brief towns, surveyed before
Wyndham itself was. Menzies Town, near the diggings at today's
Cemetery Hill boasted a population of 700 at its peak.
The first formal schooling began in 1875 conducted at a private
school run by the Rev. James Henry and the first public school
opened in 1877 with 34 pupils. The Wyndham District High School
opened in 19I4.
When the Tararua was wrecked in 188A at Waipapa point
with the loss of 131 lives news was only communicated of this to
the outside world by messenger on horseback over the 35 miles to
Wyndham which had the nearest telegraph station.
In 18DF the town's first newspapers "The Wyndham Farmer"
and "The Herald" were published within a week of each other
apparently with considerable acrimony. The discovery of an earwig
in 1924 was considered sufficiently newsworthy for The Wyndham
Farmer.
The Public Town Hall was opened in 19GE on what was then
considered to be a prime site opposite the railway station in
Nightingale Street.