The Cardrona Heritage Trail is a project commissioned by the Cardrona Heritage Trust. The aim of the project is simple: to digitise and share the history of the Cardrona Valley with visitors, residents and historians.
For decades, various families in the valley have been collating stories about the history of our community. Some of these are stories passed from generation to generation. Some are in the form of documents. Some are photos. Where possible, we have acknowledged the original writer of specific articles or chapters from books.
The Cardrona Heritage Trust was formed in 2009 and secured charitable status in 2019. Our charitable purpose is to: promote and support the protection, conservation, enhancement and sustainable management of the historical and cultural heritage of Cardrona Valley and its environs for the present and future benefit and wellbeing of residents and the public in general. You will find full details of our charity, including our trust deed, online here.
The Cardrona Heritage Trail
Originally, there was a proposal to build a museum to tell the stories of the Cardrona Valley community. But in recent years, especially with advances in digital media and mobile devices, we decided that it would make more sense to create a “digital museum” – an online portal where people can dip in and out of specific topics, photo archives and even stories told by some of our older community members. Something that would enable people right up and down the valley, and in fact from anywhere in the world, to explore the history of our area.
The Cardrona Heritage Trail project started in 2023 and the website went live in early 2024. But there have been many years of collation, discussion and fact checking leading up to this point.
Special thanks to Central Lakes Trust, which has provided seed funding for this project. Their generous support has enabled us to get the Cardrona Heritage Trail off the ground, and start sharing our history with the wider community.
A valley of QR codes!
You might have reached this website because of a QR code at a key location within our community. In the window of one of our historic buildings? On a fencepost in a location of significance? On the side of the road on the Crown Range? Or perhaps you were sitting in the Cardrona Hotel bar and saw one on the wall?
We’ve created these QR codes and placed them throughout the Cardrona Valley to bring our history to life. We want people who are in the valley to read/hear/see our stories and understand more about how our community has evolved.
Over time, we will create more QR codes and much more content, to share with you. So dive on in!
If you have any suggestions for further locations for QR codes, please do let us know.
Can you help with information?
Do you have information, photos or documents relating to the Cardrona Valley? If so, please get in touch with us. You can do this on the contact page.
Are you connected in some way with the Cardrona Valley? If so, please read this page first.
Do you want to help financially?
We are a not for profit organisation run by locals who volunteer our time – so we also welcome any donations or other financial contributions, should you wish to help.
Please follow this link for details about how to donate to the trust, including us sending you a tax receipt.
Cardrona Heritage Trail 