Historical NarrativePietro (Peter)Tomanovitch, the man who is thought to have built the cottage, was born in about 1835 in the Adriatic seaport of Cattaro, (located in Dalmatia/Croatia, often called Austria during the 19th century). According to his obituary he made a living on the sea before being attracted to Victoria, Australia, by stories of the gold rush. Some time during the 1860s he came to New Zealand and went initially to the West Coast gold fields. In the late 1860s or early 1870s, when he was in his mid thirties, he settled at Gibbston.
In 1872 he begins to appear on the Wakatipu District electoral roll and it would seem likely that he had built the cottage by this time. From the earliest rates books available (1884) it can be seen that Tomanovitch was paying rates on a residence area of one acre at Gibbston. Tomanovitch made a small living mining in the vicinity, crossing the Kawarau River using the chair near his neighbour, Hugh Harvey's place. He then walked downstream to the Nevis Bluff and took water from a creek locally known as Peter's Creek for his mining operations. This creek is near the Eastburn and Waitiri stations boundaries.
Tomanovitch also had an orchard on his property and apples, pears and plums tree remain along with other unidentified trees. Anne Cook in her book about Gibbston also names fig, mulberry, peach, cherry, almond and walnut trees as being in Pietro Tomanovitch's orchard. Many of the fruit trees in the Gibbston District were grafted by him. Along the western boundary of the property there is a line of large poplar trees and there are also several mature oak trees. He kept bees, which he did in the old fashioned way, with simple boxes and no frames. As well as mining and doing orchard work, Tomanovitch also occasionally worked for the Lake County Council as a labourer repairing local roads.
Pietro Tomanovitch was an accepted member of the Gibbston community and was particularly friendly with David Reid and the Enright family. He lived at Gibbston until the last few days of his life, when he was taken to Frankton Hospital with acute bronchitis. He died of heart failure at the hospital in November 1920 at the age of 86. He had lived in Gibbston continually for at least 50 years.
Pietro Tomanovitch's land was held on a mining licence. After his death, the land and cottage were leased to friend Gerald Enright and a local shepherd, Joseph Kirby. Kirby lived in the cottage and apparently was the opposite of tidy Pietro Tomanovitch, letting the hens inside and the place get untidy. Gerald Enright also lived in the cottage at one time and a Mr and Mrs Goodlet lived there from 1932-1935. It is not known when the cottage was last lived in, although it has been used by itinerant vineyard workers recently. Gerald Enright's half share of the mining lease stayed in the Enright family until 1994, while the other half changed hands several times, being sold to the present owners in 1994 also.
Physical DescriptionThe cottage is a very simple one-room building made of mud brick with a stone base. It has a single door and window in the front and a single window at the back. The walls are about 370mm thick. There is a fireplace at the eastern end of the building. The chimney has disintegrated and is now at the same level as the roof. There is a covering of thin plaster on the outside of the cottage. The roof is of corrugated iron and is probably not original. At the edges of the roof, flat pieces of schist have been attached to the roof by wire looped through holes that have been drilled through the rock.
The western facing end wall is showing signs of erosion from the prevailing weather. There is recent damage to the mud wall at the lower left hand side of the door. The door of the building is no longer permanently attached and is sometimes found in place or sometimes left leaning against the outside of the cottage. The cottage is basically unchanged from the time it was built. Power has never been connected and there is no running water.
The interior of the cottage, although vandalised and dilapidated, shows signs that it was once a home. The floor is tongue and groove and still appears to be sound. The inside walls have a thin layer of plaster which has been covered in wallpaper. It is not known who put the wallpaper up (or when) but finding an approximate date for this style of wallpaper may give some clues. Photos of the wallpaper are included in Appendix 3. The shape of the ceiling when covered with scrim (no longer present) would have been flat with sloping sides to the walls. The fireplace has a painted timber surround.
Recent damage includes yellow paint on the eastern and southern walls and attempts to cement up cracks which have appeared near the fireplace and on the back wall. There is also the previously mentioned damage to the wall near the door (visible in the accompanying photographs).
ReferenceCompletion Date
9th September 2004
Report Written By
Heather Bauchop
Information Sources
Cook, 1985
Anne Cook, 'Gibbston Story', Otago Heritage Books, Dunedin, 1985
Lake Country Press
Lake Country Press
Lakes District Museum
Lakes District Museum, Arrowtown
Land Information New Zealand (LINZ)
Land Information New Zealand
Report Written By
A fully referenced version of this report is available from the NZHPT Southern Region Office.
Please note that entry on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rarangi Korero identifies only the heritage values of the property concerned, and should not be construed as advice on the state of the property, or as a comment of its soundness or safety, including in regard to earthquake risk, safety in the event of fire, or insanitary conditions.