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Arthur's Pass (mountain Pass)
Arthur's Pass, a mountain pass ( above sea level) in the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand, marks part of the boundary between the West Coast and Canterbury regions. Located 140 km from Christchurch and 95 km from Greymouth, the pass comprises part of a saddle between the valleys of the Otira River (a tributary of the Taramakau River in the west) and of the Bealey River (in the east). Arthur's Pass lies on the border of the Selwyn and Westland districts. A township of the same name (Arthur's Pass) lies about 5 km south of the mountain pass. The pass is named after Arthur Dudley Dobson and a memorial at the pass commemorates him. History For hundreds of years Māori had crossed the Southern Alps by every pass free of snow in the summer months. The reason for making this difficult journey was greenstone (''pounamu''), highly prized both for its hardness and beauty and found only on the West Coast of the South Island. By the time Europeans arrived, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Māori People
The Māori (, ) are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand (). Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several centuries in isolation, these settlers developed their own distinctive culture, whose language, mythology, crafts, and performing arts evolved independently from those of other eastern Polynesian cultures. Some early Māori moved to the Chatham Islands, where their descendants became New Zealand's other indigenous Polynesian ethnic group, the Moriori. Initial contact between Māori and Europeans, starting in the 18th century, ranged from beneficial trade to lethal violence; Māori actively adopted many technologies from the newcomers. With the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, the two cultures coexisted for a generation. Rising tensions over disputed land sales led to conflict in the 1860s, and massive land confiscations, to which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rolleston River
The Rolleston River is a river of the West Coast Region of New Zealand's South Island. It flows north from its origins on the northern slopes of Mount Rolleston before turning northeast to reach the Otira River five kilometres north of Arthur's Pass. See also *List of rivers of New Zealand References Rivers of the West Coast, New Zealand Westland District Rivers of New Zealand {{WestCoastNZ-river-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otira
Otira is a small township fifteen kilometres north of Arthur's Pass in the central South Island of New Zealand. It is on the northern approach to the pass, a saddle between the Otira and Bealey Rivers high in the Southern Alps. A possible meaning of is ''"o"'' (place of) and ''"tira"'' (the travellers). Another possible meaning is ''"Oti"'' (finished) and ''"ra"'' (Sun), because Otira Gorge is usually in deep shadow. Otira was originally a stop on the Cobb and Co stagecoach from Canterbury to the West Coast. The Midland Line was extended from Stillwater to Jacksons in 1894 and then Otira in 1899, when the pass was navigated by coach from Otira until the railway tunnel opened in 1923. During construction of the tunnel, Otira housed about 600 workers and their families. The Otira Railway Station was opened on 13 November 1900 (ex-Goat Creek on 15 October 1900), and closed in February 1992. In the 1950s the town had a population of about 350, but this had dropped to 11 in 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Craigieburn, New Zealand
Craigieburn is the name of a settlement and several geographic features in northwest Canterbury, in New Zealand's South Island. The Craigieburn Range of mountains is located on the south banks of the Waimakariri River, south of Arthur's Pass. The Craigieburn Valley Ski Area is located on its slopes, as is the Craigieburn Forest Park. The ski slopes are within an hour and a half from Christchurch New Zealand. The small Lake Hawdon lies immediately to the west of Craigieburn. Fauna During the summer months five species of grasshoppers can be found along the Craigieburn Range. They include ''Sigaus villosus'' which can be found along the ridgelines, ''Brachaspis nivalis'' which lives on the rocky scree, ''Sigaus australis'', ''Paprides nitidus'' which both live in the alpine tussocklands and ''Phaulacridium marginale'' which can be found in the tussocklands below 1100 m. Demographics Craigieburn statistical area, which includes Arthur's Pass and Castle Hill, covers . It had an e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waimakariri River
The Waimakariri River is one of the largest rivers in Canterbury, on the eastern coast of New Zealand's South Island. It flows for in a generally southeastward direction from the Southern Alps across the Canterbury Plains to the Pacific Ocean. The river rises on the eastern flanks of the Southern Alps, eight kilometres southwest of Arthur's Pass. For much of its upper reaches, the river is braided, with wide shingle beds. As the river approaches the Canterbury Plains, it passes through a belt of mountains, and is forced into a narrow canyon (the Waimakariri Gorge), before reverting to its braided form for its passage across the plains. It enters the Pacific north of Christchurch, near the town of Kaiapoi. Instead of being unoccupied Crown land as are most New Zealand river beds, the bed of the Waimakariri River is vested in the Canterbury Regional Council (Environment Canterbury). Name The name ''Waimakariri'' comes from the Māori words ''wai'', meaning ''water'', and ''makari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Dudley Dobson, 1932c
Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more widely believed, is that the name is derived from the Roman clan '' Artorius'' who lived in Roman Britain for centuries. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Italian it is Arturo. Etymology The earliest datable attestation of the name Arthur is in the early 9th century Welsh-Latin text '' Historia Brittonum'', where it refers to a circa 5th to 6th-century Briton general who fought against the invading Saxons, and who later gave rise to the famous King Arthur of medieval legend and literature. A possible earlier mention of the same man is to be found in the epic Welsh poem '' Y Gododdin'' by Aneirin, which some scholars assign to the late 6th century, though this is still a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Cass (surveyor)
Thomas Cass (22 November 1817 – 17 April 1895) was one of New Zealand's pioneer surveyors. Early life Cass was born in London on 22 November 1817, the son of Michael Cass, a linen draper of Gerrard Street, Soho, and his wife Jane. His father was originally from Thirsk, North Yorkshire. Cass's father died in 1825, leaving his widow, who ran a girls' day school, with six children to raise. He received his education at the Royal Mathematical School, in Christ's Hospital school in Hertford and London from 1827 to 1834. In return for his sponsored education, Cass was committed to a seven-year apprenticeship at sea as a trainee mariner, allocated to John Skelton, Commander of the ship ''Africa''. His elder brother John Cass (1813-1889) also trained as a mariner, becoming captain of the ''Caduceus''. New Zealand As soon as Cass completed his apprenticeship he left England in 1841 on the ''Prince Rupert'' to take up survey work for the New Zealand Company, but the ship was wrecked at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abut Head
Abut Head is a forested headland on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is located north of the village of Whataroa and west of Harihari, and is southwest of the Westland District's main centre, Hokitika. On the southern side of the headland, the Whataroa River meets the Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea ( Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer .... To the east is the Saltwater Lagoon. References Headlands of the West Coast, New Zealand Westland District {{WestCoastNZ-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grey River (New Zealand)
The Grey River / Māwheranui is located in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand. It rises 12 kilometres southwest of the Lewis Pass in Lake Christabel, one of numerous small lakes on the western side of the Southern Alps, and runs westward for 120 kilometres before draining into the Tasman Sea at Greymouth. Thomas Brunner, who explored the area in the late 1840s, named the river in honour of Sir George Grey, who first served as Governor of New Zealand from 1845 to 1854. The Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 changed the official name of the river to Grey River / Māwheranui in 1998. The Māori name for the river system and surrounding area is ''Māwhera'', with ''Māwheranui'' being distinguished from the northern branch Little Grey River / Māwheraiti. The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "broad and widespread (river mouth)" for ''Māwheranui''. Numerous small rivers are tributaries of the Grey, and several of them also drain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Butler (novelist)
Samuel Butler (4 December 1835 – 18 June 1902) was an English novelist and critic, best known for the satirical utopian novel ''Erewhon'' (1872) and the semi-autobiographical novel ''Ernest Pontifex or The Way of All Flesh'', published posthumously in 1903 in an altered version titled ''The Way of All Flesh'', and published in 1964 as he wrote it. Both novels have remained in print since their initial publication. In other studies he examined Christian orthodoxy, evolutionary thought, and Italian art, and made prose translations of the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'' that are still consulted. Early life Butler was born on 4 December 1835 at the rectory in the village of Langar, Nottinghamshire. His father was Rev. Thomas Butler, son of Dr. Samuel Butler, then headmaster of Shrewsbury School and later Bishop of Lichfield. Dr. Butler was the son of a tradesman and descended from a line of yeomen, but his scholarly aptitude being recognised at a young age, he had been sent to Rugby ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leonard Harper (politician)
Leonard Harper (2 June 1837 – 27 October 1915) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament in Canterbury, New Zealand. Early life Harper was born in 1837, either in Eton or Stratfield Mortimer in Berkshire, England. His father was Henry Harper, who became the first bishop of Christchurch. Leonard Harper and his brother Charles (1838–1920) came to New Zealand with Bishop George Selwyn, who returned from a visit to England on the ''Sir George Seymour'', landing in Auckland on 5 July 1855. In May 1857, Harper was elected clerk of the Canterbury Provincial Council. His father, Bishop Harper, arrived in Christchurch at the end of 1856. In 1857, his father heard from Tainui, a Ngāi Tahu leader from Kaiapoi, that some Māori wanted to travel to the West Coast via their traditional route along the Hurunui and Taramakau rivers. Tainui agreed that his son and two other Māori would lead Leonard Harper and Mr. Locke over the pass. While Edward Dobson had been over the pass only weeks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
