A personal note: I don't like Queenstown much. Last time I visited, it was bustling with a post-covid crowd which showed that business was good and recovering. Good news for business, but I liken the place to a shiny machine designed to separate tourists from their cash. I don't suggest they're not getting value for money there - it's just not for me.
I visited the local cemetery - no surprises there - then the Frankton one. Heading to Arrowtown for theirs, I passed the Lee memorial. It took a few minutes in late afternoon traffic, but I was able to return to the memorial and park to take photos.
The Late Mr Robert Lee.
(By Our Dunedin Correspondent). The news that reached Dunedin on, Saturday last that Mr Robert Lee had passed away at his country home at Lake Hayes was received by all those who knew him with intense regret. I think I am quite safe in saying that Otago possessed no man to whose enterprising spirit she owed so much as to that of Mr Robert Lee. In the generally accepted sense of the word Mr Lee was not a public, man — i.e., he took no part in the administration of the public affairs, if indeed he did not look with some measure of contempt on the petty squabbling and party manouverings of many of our public men. But in the true sense of the word Mr Lee did more to benefit Otago than any other man I know. Possessed of means, Mr Lee used his fortune to develop the resources of this land, and he did so from no grasping spirit; but from a true love of enterprise and a solid wish to make the land he lived in prosperous. No greater-hearted man lived. He was ever ready to assist any struggling industry or any struggling man. The great success of the N.Z. Express Co. was largely due to his assistance. He did good work in developing the dredging industry, and the works he initiated in the Wakatipu district still stand to his credit. He made a big endeavor to make the Orepuki shale works a success, and most people know how he carried through the Kaitangata Co. and the sad loss he sustained by the death of his gallant son in the mine. All told, it may well be said that Otago can very ill afford to lose men like Robert Lee. He was a big man — big in every way; in stature, in ability and not by any means least in those qualities of heart and mind that endear their possessors to their friends. A true friend, Robert Lee stood by those he trusted through thick and thin. On one occasion when the secretary of one of the mining companies had with more truth than tact told a director some plain facts that director reported the matter to the Board and asserted that "unless the secretary were sacked he would not sit at the table." The chairman backed the director and proceeded to write a motion of dismissal in the rough minute book, but Mr Lee arose and said, "Mr Chairman, if that motion is put and carried at this table, I'll leave it and never return. Our secretary may have been untactful but he only said to Mr Bank's face what we all say about him." Needless to say, that board never carried the resolution. Such was the nature of Mr Robert Lee, and he was ever to be found on the side of right and justice. I have often had to write the obituary notice of people who have crossed the bar, but of none could I more truly say "he went about doing good" than of the late Mr Robert Lee, of Wakatipu. -Alexandra Herald and Goldfields Gazette, 4/1/1912.
The friends of the late Robert Lee have, says the 'Press,' decided to erect a memorial to his memory in the shape of a water trough near Lake Hayes. When the bridge over the Lower Shotover is completed there will be no water available for horses travelling anywhere between Arrowtown and Queenstown — a serious drawback during the tourist season. During his lifetime the late Mr Lee, with characteristic forethought, recognised this and when he constructed the irrigation scheme for Threepwood he expressed his intention of erecting a trough and connecting it with his water supply. His friends have thought this an effective way to perpetuate his memory and have decided to erect a water trough. Mrs Lee has kindly given her consent and subscriptions will be received at the office of Mr Perrelle, Arrowtown, Mr Hotop, Queenstown, and Mr R. M. Paterson, Ayrburn. We may state that subscriptions are restricted to 2s 6d. -Lake Wakatip Mail, 3/9/1912.
The memorial raised by voluntary public subscription in this district to the memory of the late Robert Lee has just been erected on the side of the road passing the late gentleman's property, "Threepwood," and approaching Lake Hayes. It takes the form of a fine substantial concrete watering trough, which is of "doubledecked" form, so that it will meet the requirements of all animals, and it is paved about with cobbles, which make a good solid approach. The memorial should prove a great boon to travellers, especially so when the new Lower Shotover bridge is erected as there will then be no opportunity to water horses or stock at the river as there is at present. Situated at the back, of it is a rough stone monument inlet into which is a fine piece of freestone of irregular outline, secured from the 12-Mile, on which appears the simple inscription, "In memory of Robert Lee, 1911. Erected by his friends." -Lake Wakatip Mail, 2/9/1913.
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