Strath Taieri
The Strath Taieri is a fertile plain of the Taieri River in Otago on the South Island of New Zealand, accompanied by two mountain ranges .
geography
The Strath Taieri is located in the northernmost part of the Dunedin District about 50 km from the Pacific Ocean . Bounded by the Rock and Pillar Range in the northwest and the Taieri Ridge in the southeast, the former glacier valley runs in the middle of the Taieri River in a south-westerly direction. The main connecting artery is the New Zealand State Highway 87 , which also leads directly through Middlemarch , the largest city and settlement in the extensive plain.
history
There is little evidence that prior to the arrival of the European settlers, Māori had their hunting camps on the Strath Taieri plain . For example, fragments of Maori clothing and remains of the moas that once lived in the plain were found in a cave , which today, appropriately prepared, amaze visitors to the Otago Museum in Dunedin at the entrance. It was not until the mid-19th century were the first settlers in the broad marshy valley of the Taieri River to land under cultivation to make and operate farm economy. The basis for this was laid by the surveyor and planner Charles Henry Kettle (1821–1862), who in 1847 was the first European to enter, explore and document the valley. This was followed by the prospectors who, after the gold rush in Otago (1861–1863), left their traces along the Rock and Pillar Range on their way through and looking for more gold . The first settlements emerged.
It was the Welsh attorney Edward Wingfield Humphreys (1845-1892) who promoted the settlement of Strath Taieri. In 1868 he bought huge amounts of the swampy land in the northern and central parts of the plain and built up a farm. The numerous people he employed lived on the farm in a settlement that was known as Middlemarch in 1880 at the latest and still exists today as the central and most important town on the plain.
With the opening of the Otago Central Railway Line in 1891, an influx of travelers came from Dunedin to Middlemarch and the Strath Taieri Plain. The trade and transportation of goods flourished and got a further boom after the rail link was extended to Cromwell between 1917 and 1921 .
Later in 1990, after good road connections made transport by rail completely uneconomical, the train connection to Middlemarch was discontinued. What remained in the region was agriculture and sheep breeding.
nature and landscape
The landscape consists of fertile land, formed by the glacial deposits , the alluvial land of the Taieri and the plentiful supply of water through the river, which today, however, is mostly done manually using irrigation systems . Where there is not intensive agriculture, the tussock grows dominantly , which is currently represented in New Zealand in 16 different forms.
use
Even today, agricultural use and sheep breeding represent the main source of income for the residents of Strath Taieri. With the exception of Middlemarch, tourism is of little importance to Strath Taieri. Only on the track of the old railway line do tourists come to Middlemarch with the Taieri Gorge Railway , and then, after a one-hour snack, start their return journey through the picturesque valley of the Taieri Gorge. The only exception are travelers who want to follow the Otago Central Rail Trail by bike , the connection to Clyde and Cromwell , which saw 16 years of tough railway construction at the beginning of the 20th century.
Little used for tourism, but extremely worth seeing, is New Zealand's only salt lake, Sutton Salt Lake , which is 6 km southeast of Middlemarch, at the southern end of the plain, near New Zealand State Highway 87 .
The Taieri River is used extensively for fishing in Strath Taieri, as everywhere in its course .
literature
- Alexander H. McLintock: The History of Otago. The origins and growth of a Wakefield class settlement (Otago Centennial Historical Publications). Whitecombe & Tombs, Dunedin 1949.
- Robert Gilkison: Early Days in Central Otago . 4th ed. Whitculls Publ., Christchurch 1978, ISBN 0-7233-0551-X (EA 1930).
- Helen M. Thompson: East of the Rock and Pillar. A history of the Strath Taieri and Macraes Districts (Otago Centennial Historical Publication). Whitcombe & Tombs, Dunedin 1949.
Web links
- Middlemarch - History & Culture - New Zealand Tourism Board
- Middlemarch History - Strath Taieri Community Board
- Middlemarch - Southern Attractions - Channel 9 Online Tourism Television
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sutton Salt Lake, Otago . Department of Geology, University of Otago , accessed January 14, 2016 .