Whakatipu-wai-maori (Lake Wakatipu) once supported nohoanga (campsites) and kainga (villages) which were the seasonal destinations of Otago and Murihiku (Southland) whanau and hapu for many generations. The lake was a significant mahinga kai (food and resource gathering site) and provided a route to access the treasured Inaka and Koko-takiwai pounamu resources located beyond the head of the lake in the Dart and Routeburn River catchments. Pounamu was transported back to coastal settlements for fashioning into tools, ornaments and weapons. Waka and mokihi (raupo reed rafts) were the key modes of transport for the pounamu trade, travelling the length and breadth of Whakatipu-wai-maori. Thus there were numerous tauranga waka (landing places) on the lake and the islands upon it (Matau and Wawahi-waka). Permanent settlements in the area included the kainga, Tahuna near present-day Queenstown and Te Kirikiri Pa, where the Queenstown gardens are located today. Strategic marriage alliances between hapu ensured rights to the use of the lake’s resources through whakapapa (genealogy). The lake continues to be important to Ngai Tahu Papatipu Runanga in Murihiku, Otago and beyond. The significance of Whakatipu-wai-maori to tangata whenua is acknowledged by a Statutory Acknowledgment under the Ngai Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998. In November 1862 the first gold discoveries were made at the Shotover River (now Arthurs Point) by Thomas Arthur and Harry Redfern. The two men were employed as shearers by runholder William Gilbert Rees. Rees had settled with his family on the run known as The Camp (on Queenstown Bay) two years earlier. Further discoveries were made along the Shotover during the next year with approximately two thousand prospectors arriving at the property. Initially, Rees supplied them with provisions and transport but as the population swelled and makeshift canvas buildings were erected the whole area was declared a goldfield. A dispute over compensation of his land with the government followed. Rees was finally given £10,000 which did not fully recompense for the loss of his run. By 1863 the town sections had been surveyed and sold and Queenstown was firmly established. It was constituted a borough in 1866. The town's greatest gold year was 1863 and for many years gold mining was its principal industry. By the end of the 1870s the population had begun to disperse and at the turn of the century the small remaining population had turned to various types of farming. In 1863 a group of Catholic Queenstown residents held a meeting to consider the building of a church. A deputation was appointed to ask the resident magistrate to grant a section of land on which to site a church. The land was granted, and was located in Church Street. The first chapel, St Mary’s, was erected in 1864 and services were held there until 1883 when the land was sold. In 1873 Queenstown was formed as a separate parish from Invercargill and a parish priest was appointed that same year. A presbytery was then required in Queenstown and land for this purpose was purchased in the name of the Bishop of Dunedin in 1874. Three town sections were acquired on the corner of Melbourne and Beetham Streets and extending to Hallenstein Street. A one-and-a-half storey stone dwelling was built on the corner section in 1877. In 1882 a Convent School was established in Queenstown and the presbytery was converted to a convent to accommodate the Dominican nuns who were brought to Queenstown to teach at the school. After St Mary’s was sold in 1883 services were held at the school chapel. In February 1897 the Bishop of Dunedin, Bishop Michael Verdon, raised the need for a new Catholic church at Queenstown. Dunedin architect Francis William Petre (1847-1918) was engaged to design the new church. As he was developing plans, stone for the building was quarried from Arthurs Point and transported to the site by parishioners. This contribution of materials and labour greatly reduced the contract price for the build, which was awarded to a Mr D W Woods of Dunedin. The foundation stone was laid by Bishop Verdon on 3 October 1897. Building proceeded swiftly supported by a fundraising campaign led by the parishioners. St Joseph’s Church was blessed and opened by Bishop Verdon on 29 May 1898. All remaining debts on the building were soon cleared by donations from the parishioners and the church was consecrated in June 1898. The church includes many features and chattels that were donated by parishioners. The statues of the Sacred Heart and Virgin and Child, three stained glass windows, Stations of the Cross, the original altar and sanctuary, baptismal font, sanctuary lamp and church steps were all funded by individuals and families from the church community. A significant feature on the church façade - the statue of St Joseph set into an alcove on the upper south-west wall - was carved by Dunedin sculptor Mr Hood and gifted by Dean Burke of Invercargill. Despite considerable changes to Queenstown’s industry and population over the past century - as tourism has replaced mining and agriculture as the dominant industry - St Joseph’s Church retains a loyal local parish.

St Joseph’s Church occupies an elevated site on the eastern terrace above the Queenstown town centre and Lake Wakatipu. As such it occupies a prominent position and is visible from many vantage points in the town and lake frontage. The former convent and presbytery is situated on an adjacent section set back from the street. The current presbytery is on the eastern adjacent section, also set back from the street and church. The grounds of the church, presbytery and former convent are developed and maintained as one site. The Gothic Revival church is orientated south-west to north-east with the sanctuary in the north-east end. The walls and buttresses are constructed in grey Arthurs Point schist with contrasting pale Oamaru limestone for quoining on buttresses, lancet arches and sills on windows and doors. The street (south-west) façade is symmetrical about a gabled porch which has doors framed by a lancet arch, angle buttresses with gablets above. Above the porch is a group of three lancet windows and higher still, a stone statue of St Joseph, also framed by a lancet arch. The roof of the nave is pitched and at this end the gable is surmounted with a plain cross. The nave itself is five bays long. Each bay has a single lancet window with a pier buttress between and a plain string course at sill height. Corners of the building have angle buttresses with gablets above. The north-east end of the building has an apsidal chancel and there is a gabled vestry in the east corner. Internally, the nave is an uninterrupted open space with exposed rimu rafters and ceiling, and plastered stone walls. An elevated choir gallery, also rimu, is suspended at the south-west end of the nave. The arrangement of the sanctuary has been altered at least three times and the original altar, pulpit and altar rails have been removed. In 2010 the former nun’s chapel at the north-eastern corner of the church was modified to accommodate toilet facilities. Modifications were designed and carried out in sympathy with the existing design and fabric.