Daily Photo – Lake Waihola, Waihola

The risk of success and failure in business ventures across Otago in the late 19th Century aren’t better illustrated than in the tale of Mr John Harris and the so-called the Clarendon project. 

Born in Deddington, England, into an aristocratic family, John Harris seemed to have always had high ambitions – after all, he could trace his lineage back to the first Earl of Clarendon. So, it’s hardly surprising that he trained in law before emigrating to Otago, where he arrived in Port Chalmers in 1850. Within a few years, he had married the daughter of one of Dunedin’s founding fathers, Captain William Cargill, and went on to hold numerous high-profile public roles. He served on the Dunedin Town Board, was elected Otago Superintendent, became captain of the Otago Light Horse Volunteers, presided over the 1865 Dunedin Exhibition, and was a University of Otago councillor. If that wasn’t enough to fulfill his illustrious pedigree, he was also considered one of Dunedin’s merchant elite and invested heavily in land – including near the town (and lake) of Waihola in what became known as the Clarendon project. 

With illustrious dreams of wealth, honour and prestige, Harris purchased a large block of land at the head of Lake Waihola, subdividing it into sections that went on sale. The idea being that the town would be called Clarendon, people would snap-up the sections, he would make a substantial profit and at the same time impress the Dunedin elite. Unfortunately for Harris, he got it disastrously wrong. The sections didn’t sell, and he lost staggering £28,000 on the deal. He was declared bankrupt and imprisoned 1885 for debts owed. He died a year later, his estate was worth just a mere £100.