In 1906, Rodolph Wigley founded the Mt Cook Motor Service, which leased the Hermitage hotel from the government between 1922 and 1945, and became a major tourist company. In 1955 his son, Harry Wigley, landed a ski-equipped plane on the Tasman Glacier, starting a new era in tourism at Aoraki/Mt Cook. In 1913 Jessie Wigley (daughter of Alexander and Helen Grant who lived at the Aigantighe, now art gallery) designed the company's lily motif after the giant mountain buttercup (incorrectly called the Mt Cook 'lily'.) Flowers November to January. Today the symbol still represents the goodwill of the company, a permanent memorial to the Wigley's and the dramatic Mackenzie Country. You can see street art on Strathallan Street celebrating the design. sites.rootsweb.com/wigley
Rodolph Wigley married Jessie Grant in 1910 and they had six children.
1882 First Attempt Made on Aoraki/Mt Cook. The first attempt was made on Aoraki/Mt Cook, New Zealand’s highest mountain (3,754 metres). It was first climbed by the New Zealanders Tom Fyfe, George Graham and Jack Clarke in 1894. In 1948 a young climber, Edmund Hillary, was on the first ascent of the mountain’s south ridge. Five years later he and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were the first to conquer Mt Everest. The face-climbing era that began in the 1950s culminated in the 1970 first ascent of the Caroline Face.