Burkes Pass is a tiny town, and the main mountain pass into the Mackenzie Basin is on State Highway 8. It sits between Fairlie and Tekapo. The town has a well-presented early history, but the quirky Three Creeks Art and Gift Shop is the most obvious feature. There is a fantastic range of mainly, but not exclusively, automobile-oriented memorabilia, collectibles and museum pieces. Several vintage cars, old gas pumps and cartwheels round out the collection. You can also buy heavy-weight wooden outdoor furniture or a coffee and cheese roll! If you prefer old ski collections, you will enjoy the fence on the west side of the car park.
The historical features start with a few cob houses on the other side of the road, a small historic post office, and a more substantial house built to support the local road board. This house then became the office of the Mackenzie County Council until the council was moved to Fairlie in 1891.
Heading towards the pass, you will see the incredibly cute St Patrick’s Church. Beyond this is the historic cemetery, and then the top of the pass, with a monument to Burke, 4 km from the town.
At an altitude of 709 meters, Burkes Pass separates the Two Thumb Range to the north from the Rollesby and Albury ranges to the south. Māori long used the pass to access MacKenze Basin / Te Manahuna. The European name is for Michael Burke, who drove a team of bullocks through the pass in 1855, although he may not have been the first European to cross the pass. G. Dunnage camped nearby before Burke’s trip. At the time, the route was an alternative to Mackenzie Pass, which the sheep rustler James Mackenzie famously used.
You can take a side trip from Burkes Pass to MacKenzie Pass. Follow Rollesby Valley Road from State Highway 8 at Burkes Pass to MacKenzie Pass Road, coming out on Haydon Road in the Mackenzie Basin and looping back to State Highway 8. Although this is a remote gravel road, it is a reasonably easy drive.
A dray track was cut through Burkes Pass between 1857 and 1858. At the time, the trip over the pass was time-consuming, so a way station, intended to become a town, was established west of the pass in 1859 near Sawdon Creek. However, this location was exposed and unpleasant, and early settler James Noonan ignored the official township site and built the first hotel on the east side at the more sheltered and lower foot of the pass in 1861 near the Opihi River.
The town, initially named Cabbage Tree Creek, then Clulee, and then Burkes Pass emerged. For a while, there was an expectation that this tiny place would become the county seat of Mackenzie Country, which would be supported by bringing the railway line up the Ohihi River Valley from Fairlie. However, the railway never got past Fairlie and the council was moved there in 1891. The town did manage to peak at 143 people in 1910!
Burkes Pass is also home to the critically endangered Canterbury knobbled weevil, which lives only on speargrass and has only been found within a 3-hectare area at Burkes Pass.
