The man of the Chateau

The man of the Chateau.
Larger than life hotelier Rodolph Lysaght Wigley would be upset to find his pride and joy, the Chateau Tongariro, has closed for good.
The Chateau closed at the weekend after concern about earthquake stability, bringing to an end nearly 100 years of legacy.
Wigley, or Wigs as he was often called, was considered a pioneer of tourism in New Zealand. A big man with an appetite for adventure - he was the perfect embodiment of the outdoor New Zealand lifestyle we have come to associate with tourism here.
Born October 21, 1881 to sheepfarmer Thomas Henry Wigley and his second wife Annie Caroline Lysaght.
Wigs attended Christ’s College then studied electrical engineering by correspondence. Which must have taken quite some time back then.
It led him to create a workshop where he built his own steam engine.
He liked electricity and being the practical joker would wire up doorknobs to give people mild shocks.
After selling out of his family’s business he teamed up with Samuel Thornley to form a transport company specialising in traction engine haulage.
Wigs made the first automobile trip to the Hermitage in Mt Cook in a De Dion Bouton he had purchased. Fatefully, it showed him the Mt Cook scenery and he became convinced of the tourism opportunities. He arranged to buy service cars and the Mount Cook Motor Service began. He is thought to have run the first bus business in Australasia and the first to deliver mail.
Ultimately the business went bankrupt but Wigs took over the assets and restarted it.
He also wanted to lease the Hermitage from the government. He considered it badly run and wanted it to be open all year round. He got the lease in 1922 and he began work, enlarging it, putting in a telegraph link, building tramping huts and catering for sportsmen.
He also employed two experienced mountain guides with whom he made the first winter ascent of Mt Cook.
In 1929 he formed the Tongariro Tourist Company as a subsidiary of the Mount Cook one and took on the building of the Chateau on land gifted to the people of New Zealand by Ngāti Tūwharetoa paramount chief Horonuku Te Heuheu Tūkino in 1887.
He employed architect Herbert Hall to design it.
It opened in August 1929 even though it was unfurnished and there was money owed on it.
It had a modern boiling water tanks, panoramic window views and custom made furniture.
But with money owing to the construction company, Fletchers, the Tongariro Tourist Company was put into receivership and the Chateau ended up taken over by the National Park Board who gave it to the Department of Tourist and Health Resorts, which owned and ran the hotel for the next 26 years.
Wigs moved on, forming a rental car company - the first in New Zealand and then the New Zealand Aero Transport Company. He continued in business making the Mount Cook Group Limited one of the largest tourist companies in the country.
He had married Jessie Christie Grant in 19210 and they had six children with two of his sons being involved in the company.
Rudolph Wigley died on April 27, 1946 and is buried in the Timaru Cemetery.
Photo from Te Papa's Collection​