Navigation for Spectrum

Since the death of her husband Sir Peter Elworthy, Lady Elworthy has moved from the family home at Craigmore station to a cottage in the Valley, next to the Maungati Golf Course, and a short distance from the Maungati Community Hall.

Since arriving in South Canterbury from her childhood home in Hawkes Bay, Fiona Elworthy (nee McHardy) embraced the opportunities that her position as matriarch of a large established Canterbury family provided.

She became actively involved in local issues, and also shared with her husband the guardianship of Ancient Waitaha Rock Drawings in Caves among the Limestone Cliffs and Ti Kouka trees on Craigmore.

An interests in the arts, ignited by an early Rudolf Steiner education, and a year at a Finishing School in Europe, lead to the establishment of the Aoraki Arts festival which was held every two years at Craigmore.