Strath Taieri

The Strath Taieri is one of two mountain ranges accompanied fertile plain of the Taieri River in Otago on the South Island of New Zealand.

Geography

The Strath Taieri is approximately 50 km from the Pacific Ocean in the northernmost part of the Dunedin District. Limits of the Rock and Pillar Range in the northwest and the Taieri Ridge to the southeast, the former glacial valley extends centrally crossed by the Taieri River in a south-westerly direction. Main connecting artery is Highway 87, which leads directly through Middlemarch, the largest city and settlement in the spacious level.

History

There are a few evidence that before the arrival of European settlers, in the plane of Strath Taieri Maori have had to hunt their camps. For example, the once living in the plane Moas were in a cave fragments of clothing of the Maori and the remains found today, prepared in accordance with, in the Otago Museum in Dunedin at the entrance, visitors will astonish you. It was not until the mid-19th century, the first settlers arrived in the broad marshy valley of the Taieri River to make land arable and operate farm economy. The surveyor and planner Charles Henry Kettle (1821-1862) had laid the basis for this, the first European to set foot, explored and documented in 1847 the valley. It was followed by the gold prospectors who after the Otago Gold Rush (1861-1863) on their passing through and looking for even more gold left their mark along the Rock and Pillar Range. The first settlements were established.

It was the Welsh lawyer Edward Wingfield Humphreys (1845-1892), promoted the colonization of Strath Taieri. In 1868 he buy huge amounts of marshy land in northern and central part of the plain and built a farm economy. The many people he employed, lived on the farm in a settlement, which became known as Middlemarch no later than 1880 and still exists today as the central and most important city in the plane.

With the opening of the Otago Central Railway Line in 1891 came an influx of travelers from Dunedin to Middlemarch and in the level of Strath Taieri. The trade and the transport of goods flourished and got a further boost after the railway line 1917-1921 was extended to Cromwell.

Later in 1990 after good road links to transport by rail could be completely uneconomical, the train was discontinued after Middlemarch. What the region still remained, was agriculture and sheep farming.

Nature and Landscape

The landscape consists of fertile land, formed by the glacial deposits, the alluvium of the Taieri and the abundant supply of water by the river, which is carried out today but mostly on irrigation installations manually. Where not intensive agricultural practices grows dominant the tussock grass, which is currently represented in 16 different forms in New Zealand.

Use

Even today, the farming and sheep farming the main source of income of the residents of Strath Taieri dar. Tourism is, with the exception of Middlemarch, Strath Taieri for an insignificant position. Come only on the track of the old railway line today tourists with the Taieri Gorge Railway by Middlemarch, then after an hour snack again begin the return journey through the picturesque valley of the Taieri Gorge. The only exception are the travelers who want to follow by bike the Otago Central Rail Trail, has seen the connection to Clyde and Cromwell, the 16 long years of hard railway construction in the early 20th century.

Little used by tourists, but worth seeing, is the only salt lake in New Zealand, of Sutton Salt Lake, which is 6 km southeast of Middlemarch, at the southern end of the level, near the Highway 87.

The Taieri River is also used in Strath Taieri, as everywhere in his river course, intensively for the sport of fishing.

Swell

  • 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 edition 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 District ( Otago Centennial Historical Publication). Whitcombe & Tombs, Dunedin 1949.
  • Middlemarch - History & Culture - New Zealand Tourism Board
  • Middlemarch History - Strath Taieri Community Board
  • Middlemarch - Southern Attractions - Channel 9 Online Television Tourism
Middlemarch, New Zealand Māori people Charles Kettle Cromwell, New Zealand Clyde, New Zealand
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