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Matau River
The Koau and Matau Rivers, also called the Koau and Matau Branches, are the two distributaries of New Zealand's Clutha River. The two distributaries split immediately to the southeast of the town of Balclutha, at which point the more northerly branch becomes the Matau and the more southerly becomes the Koau. The two branches both flow generally southeast to reach the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the island of Inch Clutha. A small silty channel connects the two rivers close to their mouths, creating a smaller unnamed island to the south of Inch Clutha. The two rivers are named from a Māori myth; the two branches were a husband and wife named Koau and Matau respectively. The point where the two waters flow into one another was known as Wai-hakirara, literally singing waters, because of the happiness of their meeting. The name Matau is likely a corruption of the name Mata-au, meaning eddying currents, which is the Māori language name for the Clutha River overall. The name Koau possibl ...
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Distributary River
A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Distributaries are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributary is a tributary, which flows ''towards'' and joins another stream. Distributaries are often found where a stream approaches a lake or an ocean. They can also occur inland, on alluvial fans, or where a tributary stream bifurcates as it nears its confluence with a larger stream. In some cases, a minor distributary can divert so much water from the main channel that it can later become the main route. Related terms Common terms to name individual river distributaries in English-speaking world, English-speaking countries are ''arm'' and ''channel''. These terms may refer to a distributary that does not rejoin the channel from which it has branched (e.g., the North, Middle, and South Arms of the Fraser River, or the West Channel of the Mackenzi ...
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Clutha River
The Clutha River (, officially gazetted as Clutha River / ) is the second longest river in New Zealand and the longest in the South Island. It flows south-southeast through Central and South Otago from Lake Wānaka in the Southern Alps to the Pacific Ocean, south west of Dunedin. It is the highest volume river in New Zealand, and the swiftest, with a catchment of , discharging a mean flow of . The river is known for its scenery, gold-rush history, and swift turquoise waters. A river conservation group, the Clutha Mata-Au River Parkway Group, is working to establish a regional river parkway, with a trail, along the entire river corridor. Geography The ultimate source of the river is at the head of the Makarora River, close to the saddle of the Haast Pass, which flows into the northern end of Lake Wānaka. The southern end of the lake drains into the nascent Clutha close to Albert Town, where it is met by its first main tributary, the Hāwea River, the outflow of Lake W ...
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Balclutha, New Zealand
Balclutha ( mi, Iwikatea) is a town in South Otago, lying towards the end of the Clutha River, on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is about halfway between Dunedin and Gore on the Main South Line railway, State Highway 1 and the Southern Scenic Route. Balclutha has a population of (as of ), and is the largest town in South Otago. The Clutha District Council is based in Balclutha. The major service centre for the fertile farming region around the lower reaches of the Clutha River, it is also the nearest large town to the Catlins, a scenic region of native forest, wildlife, and rugged coastline. History Known locally as "Clutha", Balclutha's name – and that of the river on which it stands – reflects the Scottish origin of the town's settlement. The name comes from Scottish Gaelic and would be spelt Baile Chluaidh in that language; this translates into English as "Town on the Clyde". James McNeil from Bonn Hill, Dumbartonshire, Scotland, who is re ...
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Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continents of Asia and Oceania in the west and the Americas in the east. At in area (as defined with a southern Antarctic border), this largest division of the World Ocean—and, in turn, the hydrosphere—covers about 46% of Earth's water surface and about 32% of its total surface area, larger than Earth's entire land area combined .Pacific Ocean
. '' Britannica Concise.'' 2008: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
The centers of both the
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Inch Clutha
Inch Clutha is a large, flat island sitting in the delta between the Matau (northern) and Koau (southern) branches of the Clutha River, downstream from the town of Balclutha in the South Island of New Zealand. Approximately long and wide, the fertile but flood-prone land of the island is extensively farmed. The island was formed in 1878 after a massive flood changed the course of the Clutha, which had formerly reached the ocean 4 km to the south at Port Molyneux. The island takes its name from Scots Gaelic, ''innis'' meaning "island" and ''Cluaidh'' being the Gaelic form of the name of Scotland's River Clyde. The island is sparsely inhabited, consisting of a handful of farm houses distributed fairly evenly across the island. Only two bridges link the island to the South Island proper, both of them connecting with the Kaitangata Highway (former SH 91), one at the northern end of the island close to Stirling, and the other about one kilometre from Kaitangata. The southweste ...
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Māori Language
Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and Tahitian, it gained recognition as one of New Zealand's official languages in 1987. The number of speakers of the language has declined sharply since 1945, but a Māori-language revitalisation effort has slowed the decline. The 2018 New Zealand census reported that about 186,000 people, or 4.0% of the New Zealand population, could hold a conversation in Māori about everyday things. , 55% of Māori adults reported some knowledge of the language; of these, 64% use Māori at home and around 50,000 people can speak the language "very well" or "well". The Māori language did not have an indigenous writing system. Missionaries arriving from about 1814, such as Thomas Kendall, learned to speak Māori, and introduced the Latin alphabet. In 1 ...
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Alexander Wyclif Reed
Alexander Wyclif Reed (7 March 1908 – 19 October 1979), also known as Clif Reed and A. W. Reed, was a prolific New Zealand publisher and author. Biography Alexander Wyclif Reed, along with his uncle Alfred Hamish Reed, established the publishing firm A. H. & A. W. Reed. He wrote more than 200 books and as an author was known most commonly as A. W. Reed. He was neither a scholar nor a gifted writer, but wrote commercially successful books based on simplifying and popularising secondary sources. Although he did not have firsthand knowledge of Māori language or custom, he wrote many books on the myths, language and place names of the Māori and, later, of Australian Aboriginal Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait I ... cultures. Selected published works * * * * * * ...
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Phalacrocorax Varius
The Australian pied cormorant (''Phalacrocorax varius''), also known as the pied cormorant, pied shag, or great pied cormorant, is a medium-sized member of the cormorant family. It is found around the coasts of Australasia. In New Zealand, it is usually known either as the pied shag or by its Māori name of . Older sources may refer to it as the "yellow-faced cormorant". Taxonomy The Australian pied cormorant was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's '' Systema Naturae''. He placed it in the genus '' Pelecanus'' and coined the binomial name ''Pelecanus varius''. Gmelin based his description on the "pied shag" from Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand, that had been described in 1785 by English ornithologist John Latham in his book ''A General Synopsis of Birds''. Latham had based his own description on a specimen in the Leverian Museum and on a watercolour by Georg Forster that belo ...
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Meander
A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex bank which is typically a point bar. The result of this coupled erosion and sedimentation is the formation of a sinuous course as the channel migrates back and forth across the axis of a floodplain. The zone within which a meandering stream periodically shifts its channel is known as a meander belt. It typically ranges from 15 to 18 times the width of the channel. Over time, meanders migrate downstream, sometimes in such a short time as to create civil engineering challenges for local municipalities attempting to maintain stable roads and bridges.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl Jr., and J.A. Jackson, J.A., eds. (2005) ''Glossary of Geology'' (5th ed.). Alexandria, Virginia, American Geological Institute. 779 pp. Charlton, R., 2007. ''Fundamen ...
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Oxbow Lake
An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are called billabongs. The word "oxbow" can also refer to a U-shaped bend in a river or stream, whether or not it is cut off from the main stream. Geology An oxbow lake forms when a meandering river erodes through the neck of one of its meanders. This takes place because meanders tend to grow and become more curved over time. The river then follows a shorter course that bypasses the meander. The entrances to the abandoned meander eventually silt up, forming an oxbow lake. Because oxbow lakes are stillwater lakes, with no current flowing through them, the entire lake gradually silts up, becoming a bog or swamp and then evaporating completely. When a river reaches a low-lying plain, often in its final course to the sea or a lake, it meanders w ...
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Kaitangata, New Zealand
Kaitangata is a town near the coast of South Otago, New Zealand, on the left bank of the Matau Branch of the Clutha River ten kilometres south east of Balclutha. The town is known to its residents simply as ''Kai''. In June 2016 the town gained international attention when new low cost housing was offered there, and local mayor of Clutha District, Bryan Cadogan, estimated there were 100-1000 job vacancies in the region; the news was carried by ''The Guardian'' and TVNZ's ''Seven Sharp''. Location The town sits close to the coast on one of the branches of the Clutha River's delta. The small island of Inch Clutha lies immediately to the southwest of the town. Close to the town to the north lies the small Lake Tuakitoto, which drains into the Clutha via a small stream which runs to the west of Kaitangata. Demographics In 1863 there were only 29 eligible voters in the wider district, which included Inch Clutha and Matau. By 1865 the population for the wider area was given as 4 ...
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Finegand, New Zealand
Finegand is a locality in the South Otago region of New Zealand's South Island. Named after Finegand, in Scotland, by John Shaw. John Shaw arrived in New Zealand in 1852, with his sister Margaret, from Finegand which is near Glenshee in Perthshire, Scotland. He took up land on the south bank of the Clutha River, and named his farm "Finegand". Finegand is situated on the Clutha River south of Balclutha. Other nearby settlements include Otanomomo and Waitepeka to the south and Kakapuaka to the northwest. Economy Finegand is located in a rural area and thus the economic emphasis is on agriculture. A major freezing works operated by Silver Fern Farms is located in Finegand. A multimillion-dollar upgrade of the facility was undertaken in 2007. Transport Finegand is situated on the Southern Scenic Route road, which meets State Highway 1 just to the north in Balclutha. On 15 December 1885, the first section of the Catlins River Branch railway opened through Finegand. This b ...
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