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Gillespies Beach
Gillespies Beach is a black sand beach and settlement on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island, west of Fox Glacier township by road. It is bounded by Westland Tai Poutini National Park to the east, and the Tasman Sea to the west. The beach itself stretches about from Gillespies Point / Kōhaihai in the north to Otorokua Point in the south. Access The access road to Gillespies Beach begins from the Cook River / Weheka flats, before passing over moraines of the Fox Glacier dating from 14,000 years ago. The road is unsealed, winding and narrow, with rimu forest on each side. Geography Gillespies Beach is a gravel beach with stable dunes. It is one of the largest beach/dune systems in Westland. Approximately at Gillespies Beach is protected as a stewardship area under section 25 of the Conservation Act 1987. The protected area includes the mouth of several small streams, wetlands, a lagoon and areas covered in shrub and coastal forest, as well as the historic mining si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gillespies Point / Kōhaihai
Gillespies Point (; officially Gillespies Point / Kōhaihai) is a small headland on the West Coast Region, west coast of New Zealand's South Island. The point marks the north-eastern end of Gillespies Beach and the western end of Waikowhai Bluff, as well as the mouth of Waikowhai Stream. The point is deemed to have high conservation value despite not being covered by Westland Tai Poutini National Park or Waiau Glacier Coast Marine Reserve, and is a relatively untouched haul-out site of New Zealand fur seals. Geography Gillespies Point is located at the north-eastern limit of Gillespies Beach, which runs for roughly between Kōhaihai and Otorokua Point to the southwest, approximately from the town of Fox Glacier (town), Fox Glacier. The point is the westernmost portion of moraine deposits which extend from Cook Saddle, some inland, deposited by glaciers in the region during earlier ice ages. Upon reaching the shore, erosion of this moraine has formed a line of coastal cliffs whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Coast Region
The West Coast ( mi, Te Tai Poutini, lit=The Coast of Poutini, the Taniwha) is a region of New Zealand on the west coast of the South Island that is administered by the West Coast Regional Council, and is known co-officially as Te Tai Poutini. It comprises the territorial authorities of Buller District, Grey District and Westland District. The principal towns are Westport, Greymouth and Hokitika. The region, one of the more remote areas of the country, is also the most sparsely populated. With a population of just 32,000 people, Te Tai Poutini is the least populous region in New Zealand, and it is the only region where the population is declining. The region has a rich and important history. The land itself is ancient, stretching back to the Carboniferous period; this is evident by the amount of carboniferous materials naturally found there, especially coal. First settled by Kāi Tahu in approximately 1200 CE, the area was famous across New Zealand for its richness in pounamu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dacrydium Cupressinum
''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a large evergreen coniferous tree endemic to the forests of New Zealand. It is a member of the southern conifer group, the podocarps. The Māori name ''rimu'' comes from the Polynesian term ''limu'' which the tree's foliage were reminded of, ultimately from Proto-Austronesian *''limut'' meaning "moss". The former name "red pine" has fallen out of common use. Distribution Rimu grows throughout New Zealand, in the North Island, South Island and Stewart Island/Rakiura. This species is common in lowland and montane forest. Although the largest concentration of trees is now found on the West Coast of the South Island, the biggest trees tend to be in mixed podocarp forest near Taupō (e.g., Pureora, Waihaha, and Whirinaki Forests). A typical North Island habitat is in the Hamilton Ecological District, where '' Fuscospora truncata'' and rimu form the overstory. Associate ferns on the forest floor are ''Blechnum discolor'', ''Bl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haast, New Zealand
Haast is a small town in the Westland District territorial authority on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. The Haast region covers over . The region is named after Julius von Haast, a Prussian-born geologist instrumental in the early geological surveys of New Zealand. The main economic activities in the Haast region are farming, fishing and tourism. Lake Moeraki is to the northeast, and the Haast Pass is to the southeast by road. passes through Haast Junction and just to the east of Haast township. The settlement of Okuru is located on the coast south-west of Haast. The rarest subspecies of kiwi, the Haast tokoeka, is only found in the mountains of the Haast region. History European settlement of the area dates back to the 1870s. The remoteness of the area initially limited access to seagoing vessels, with some rough tracks from the north and east. The present Haast township was originally a New Zealand Ministry of Works road construction camp, which expanded ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southland Times
''The Southland Times'' is the regional daily paper for Southland, including Invercargill, and neighbouring parts of Otago, in New Zealand. It is now owned by media business Stuff Ltd, formerly the New Zealand division of Fairfax Media. History ''The Southland Times'' was first established in 1862. The first edition was published on 12 November 1862 under the title of ''Invercargill Times''. The three founders were Gerard George Fitzgerald, John T. Downes, and Charles Reynolds. The name changed to ''The Southland Times'' in June 1864. Initially, it was published two or three times a week until it became a daily paper in 1875. From 1869 until its purchase by the INL (Independent Newspapers Limited), it was owned by the Gilmour family. Robert Gilmour became a part owner in 1869–70, and then in 1879 became the sole owner of the paper. In 1972, digital computers and software, phototypesetters, and a Japanese APR photopolymer plate were installed at the paper, making the ''Times ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ōkārito
Ōkārito is a small coastal settlement on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island, southwest of Hokitika, and from . It is built at the southern end of the Ōkārito Lagoon at the mouth of the Ōkārito River. The settlement of The Forks is located just inland, on the banks of the river. Name Ōkārito's name is from the Māori , place of, and , the young shoots of the bulrush or raupō (''Typha orientalis''), a valued food source. Another account has Ōkārito taking its name from a rangatira named Kārito, whose daughters Mapourika and Wahapako gave their names to nearby Lake Mapourika and Lake Wahapo. The settlement's official name has been spelled with macrons over the vowels since 2010, although it is still commonly seen written as "Okarito". History Māori occupation and seasonal harvesting in area began over 600 years ago. The Ōkārito historic gold mining settlement is home to Donovan's Store, the oldest known building on the West Coast, and the Ōkār ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyttelton Times
The ''Lyttelton Times'' was the first newspaper in Canterbury, New Zealand, publishing the first edition in January 1851. It was established by the Canterbury Association as part of its planned settlement of Canterbury and developed into a liberal, at the time sometimes seen as radical, newspaper. A successor paper, ''The Star'', is published as a free bi-weekly newspaper. James FitzGerald was the newspaper's first editor, and it was FitzGerald who in 1861 set up its main competitor, ''The Press'', over the ''Lyttelton Times support for the Lyttelton Rail Tunnel. In 1935, it was ''The Press'' that won the competition for the morning newspaper market in Christchurch; the ''Lyttelton Times'' was the oldest newspaper in the country when it ceased that year. History The Canterbury Association was formed in order to establish a colony in what is now the Canterbury Region in the South Island of New Zealand. Part of the plan was to have a newspaper, and a prospectus was published in A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Papers Past
The National Library of New Zealand ( mi, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) is New Zealand's legal deposit library charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (''National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Mātauranga) Act 2003''). Under the Act, the library's duties include collection, preserving and protecting the collections of the National Library, significant history documents, and collaborating with other libraries in New Zealand and abroad. The library supports schools through its Services to Schools business unit, which has curriculum and advisory branches around New Zealand. The Legal Deposit Office is New Zealand's agency for ISBN and ISSN. The library headquarters is close to the Parliament of New Zealand and the Court of Appeal on the corner of Aitken and Molesworth Streets, Wellington. History Origins The National Library of New Zealand was formed in 1965 when the General Assembly Library, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruce Bay
Bruce Bay is a bay and settlement in South Westland, New Zealand on the Tasman Sea. It is located on State Highway 6, northeast of Haast and southwest of Fox Glacier. The small settlement of Bruce Bay is located just south of the mouth of Mahitahi River. The bay is a nesting ground for the Fiordland crested penguin, and endemic Hector's dolphins and southern right whales can be observed from the shore on occasion. Some of the bush around the bay has been cleared for farming, and quartz stones can be found on the beach. History Māori oral tradition According to the oral tradition of local Māori, Bruce Bay was where the explorer and trickster Māui first landed in New Zealand before fishing up the North Island. Before landing, Māui had to kill the two taniwha keeping guard on either side of the bay. This feat is recalled in the name of the headland at the western end of the bay, Heretaniwha (literally meaning "to tie up the monster"). Early Māori settlement There is archa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Coast Gold Rush
The West Coast Gold Rush, on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island, lasted from 1864 to 1867. Description The gold rush populated the area, which up until then had been visited by few Europeans. Gold was found near the Taramakau River in 1864 by two Māori, Ihaia Tainui and Haimona Taukau. In 1865–66 gold was discovered at Okarito, Bruce Bay (the scene of the Hunt's Duffer gold rush), around Charleston and along the Grey River. Miners were attracted from the Otago Gold Rush, and from Victoria, Australia where the Victorian gold rush had nearly finished. By the end of 1864 there were an estimated 1800 prospectors on the West Coast, with many in the Hokitika area. Hokitika was in 1866 the most populous settlement in New Zealand with a population of more than 25,000, and boasted more than 100 pubs. The Canterbury Provincial Council in Christchurch tasked their provincial engineer, Edward Dobson, to examine every possible pass to the West Coast from the watersheds of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Type Locality (geology)
Type locality, also called type area, is the locality where a particular rock type, stratigraphic unit or mineral species is first identified. If the stratigraphic unit in a locality is layered, it is called a stratotype, whereas the standard of reference for unlayered rocks is the type locality. The term is similar to the term type site in archaeology or the term type specimen in biology. Examples of geological type localities Rocks and minerals * Aragonite: Molina de Aragón, Guadalajara, Spain * Autunite: Autun, France * Benmoreite: Ben More (Mull), Scotland * Blairmorite: Blairmore, Alberta, Canada * Boninite: Bonin Islands, Japan * Comendite: Comende, San Pietro Island, Sardinia * Cummingtonite: Cummington, Massachusetts * Dunite: Dun Mountain, New Zealand. * Essexite: Essex County, Massachusetts, US * Fayalite: Horta, Fayal Island, Azores, Portugal * Harzburgite: Bad Harzburg, Germany * Icelandite: Thingmuli (Þingmúli), Iceland * Ijolite: Iivaara, Kuusamo, Finl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Huttonite
Huttonite is a thorium nesosilicate mineral with the chemical formula and which crystallizes in the monoclinic system. It is dimorphous with tetragonal thorite, and isostructual with monazite. An uncommon mineral, huttonite forms transparent or translucent cream–colored crystals. It was first identified in samples of beach sands from the West Coast region of New Zealand by the mineralogist Colin Osborne Hutton (1910–1971). Owing to its rarity, huttonite is not an industrially useful mineral. Occurrence Huttonite was first described in 1950 from beach sand and fluvio-glacial deposits in South Westland, New Zealand, where it was found as anhedral grains of no more than 0.2 mm maximum dimension. It is most prevalent in the sand at Gillespie's Beach, near Fox Glacier, which is the type location, where it is accompanied by scheelite, cassiterite, zircon, uranothorite, ilmenite and gold. It was found at a further six nearby locations in less plentiful amo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
