Palmerston (New Zealand)
| Palmerston | ||
| Geographical location | ||
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| Coordinates | 45 ° 29 ′ S , 170 ° 43 ′ E | |
| Region ISO | NZ-OTA | |
| Country |
 New Zealand
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| region | Otago | |
| District | Waitaki District | |
| Ward | Waihemo Ward | |
| Local foundation | 1862 | |
| Residents | 795 (2013) | |
| height | 21 m | |
| Post Code | 9430 | |
| Telephone code | +64 (0) 3 | |
| UN / LOCODE | NZ PMS | |
| Photography of the place | ||
 The Puketapu towers above Palmerston , in the foreground the statue of Zealandia |
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Palmerston is a small town in the Waitaki District of the Otago regionon the South Island of New Zealand .
Origin of name
Palmerston is often confused with the city of Palmerston North , whose residents also colloquially refer to their city as " Palmerston ". However, Palmerston was mentioned on the South Island as early as 1862, while Palmerston North did not receive its name until 1871. The two cities were named after Lord Palmerston , a 19th century British Prime Minister.
geography
The place is located about 49 km north-northeast of Dunedin and about 47 km south-southwest of Oamaru in the plain of the Shag River , which flows about 8 km east into the Pacific Ocean .
history
Early settlement
Modern archeology dates the colonization of New Zealand by Polynesians to around the year 1100. On the South Island of New Zealand, the east coast was a popular settlement area of those days, so it is not surprising that an important settlement of the archaic or " Moa hunter" - period of the Māori - Culture could be found at the mouth of the Shag River in the ocean near Palmerston . This place has been known to Europeans since the 1840s and was studied by archaeologists early on . In 1987 and 1989 extensive new excavations were carried out under Atholl Anderson . At the time it was concluded that the settlement was used year round for a period of 20–50 years of the 14th century.
First European
In 1814 first mate Robert Brown sailed along the east coast with two other Europeans and five Indian sailors in an open boat on the ship Matilda led by Captain Fowler . They stayed on the coast north of Moeraki , around 20 kilometers from Palmerston . There they were discovered by Māori and attacked over a four-year-old feud over theft. According to the Creed manuscript discovered in 2003, two of the men escaped in the dark and fled to Goodwood Bobby's Head on the coast just south of Palmerston . After a two-day escape, they were first provided with food by local Māori . However, their persecutors should have found them, killed them and then ate them.
In May 1826 Thomas Shepherd sailed the coast of the Palmerston region on the Rosanna and made a sketch of the coastal region. The document is now in the Mitchell Library in Sydney .
In the 1840s other visitors came like Edward Shortland or Charles Suisted , who took possession of land in the area in the 1850s.
Palmerston founded
Palmerston was founded in 1862 as an important stopover on the way through the Shag Valley , called "pigroot" , which led to the gold fields in the Central Otago District .
In 1887 gold was found in Palmerston and in the Shag River , excavators were used from the 1890s to recover the coveted metal from the river bed. They were used until 1904.
Palmerston was once the headquarters of the administration of Waihemo County and the district before it was incorporated into the Waitaki District in 1989 .
Infrastructure
Road traffic
The New Zealand State Highway 1 runs through Palmerston and connects the town with Dunedin in the south and Oamaru and Christchurch in the north. The New Zealand State Highway 85 branches off from State Highway 1 within the village and leads inland as the main route to the Maniototo Plain.
Rail transport
The place is on the railway line of the Main South Line , on which the passenger traffic of the Southerner was discontinued in 2002, the freight traffic still exists. The Seasider tourist train also runs between Dunedin and Palmerston once or twice a week . From 1880 to 1989 a branch line, the Dunback and Makareao Branches , ran inland from Palmerston .
Attractions
- In Palmerston , a Presbyterian church designed in 1876 by the architect David Ross and built from the sandstone available on site remains .
- Southeast of the village is the 343 m high Puketapu ( Māori for holy hill ), on which there is a monument to Sir John McKenzie , who was a respected politician of the region and was a member of parliament for over 20 years.
- A marble statue of the Zealandia by Carlo Bergamini in the city center commemorates the Second Boer War . It is one of two nationwide, the other is in Waimate .
Events
A few kilometers inland at Shag Valley train station , Frank Bell established the first radio link between New Zealand and England on October 18, 1924. At that time, this event received international attention in the media as the “first radio broadcast around the world”.
literature
- CWS Moore : Northern Approaches . Ed .: Otago Centennial Historical Committee . Dunedin 1958 (English).
- G. Griffiths : In the Land of Dwindle River . Otago Heritage Books , Dunedin 1982 (English).
- A. Anderson : When All the Moa-Ovens Grew Cold . Otago Heritage Books , Dunedin 1983 (English).
- C. Then, N. Peat : Dunedin, North and South Otago . GP Books , Wellington 1989, ISBN 0-477-01438-0 (English).
- A. Anderson : The Welcome of Strangers . University of Otago Press , Dunedin 1998, ISBN 1-877133-41-8 (English).
- Helga Neubauer: Palmerston . In: The New Zealand Book . 1st edition. NZ Visitor Publications , Nelson 2003, ISBN 1-877339-00-8 , pp. 789 f .
- P. Entwisle : Taka a Vignette Life of William Tucker 1784-1817 . Port Daniel Press , Dunedin 2005, ISBN 0-473-10098-3 (English).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ 2013 Census QuickStats about a place: Palmerston . Statistics New Zealand , accessed July 23, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Topo250 maps . Land Information New Zealand , accessed September 19, 2017 .
- ↑ A. Anderson : Shag River Mouth . The Australian National University , Canberra 1996 (English).
- ^ A b c Neubauer: Palmerston . In: The New Zealand Book . 2003, p. 790 .