|
Westport, New Zealand
Westport ( mi, Kawatiri) is a town in the West Coast region of the South Island of New Zealand. Established in 1861, it is the oldest European settlement on the West Coast. Originally named Buller, it is on the right bank and at the mouth of the Buller River, close by the prominent headland of Cape Foulwind. It is connected via State Highway 6 with Greymouth, to the south, and with Nelson in the northeast, via the Buller Gorge. The population of the Westport urban area was as of . The Buller District had a population of . Name The Māori language name for the river and the region is ''Kawatiri,'' meaning deep and swift. The town is thought to have been named after Westport, County Mayo in Ireland, although the choice of name was no doubt also guided by its location. History From an archaeological excavation site, near the mouth of the Buller River ''(Kawatiri)'', it is clear that Māori were living close to Westport by the early 14th century. Māori mostly lived in coast ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buller District Council
Buller District Council is the territorial authority for the Buller District of New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the .... The council is led by the mayor of Buller, who is currently . There are also ten ward councillors, two representing Seddon Ward, six representing Westport Ward, and two representing Inangahua Ward. Composition Westport Ward has six councilors: Deputy Mayor Sharon Roche, Robyn Nahr, Joanne Howard, Grant Weston, Margaret Montgomery and Phil Rutherford. Inangahua Ward has two councillors: Dave Hawes and John Bougen. Seddon Ward has two councillors: Rosalie Sampson and Martin Hill. There is also a non-elected Māori Portfolio Councillor, Francois Tumahai. Inangahua Community Board has six members: Alun Bollinger, Linda Webb, Ina Lineham, C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Millerton, New Zealand
Millerton is a small settlement in the northwestern South Island of New Zealand in the West Coast region. It is in the Papahaua Ranges, around 33 kilometres by road north of Westport, via SH67 from Westport to Karamea. The history of Millerton bears some resemblance to that of Denniston, being a town that lived from and for the coal that was mined in the Ranges. Millerton has a population of approx 30-40. It was classified like Denniston as a ghost town in the 1970s but has had a resident population for several decades. It is possibly New Zealand's only populated hilltop township. Mining and incline Despite its elevation of 300 metres being considerably lower than that of Denniston (600 metres), the steep grade between the coastline and Millerton still meant that the coal was difficult to get down from the hilltop to the coastal railway near sea level. The Westport Coal Company built the Millerton Incline in 1891 and the Millerton Mine began production in 1896. Mining a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Denniston, New Zealand
Denniston is a small settlement, 15 kilometres (9 miles) east of Westport, on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is situated on the Denniston Plateau, above sea level in the Papahaua Ranges. It is named for R. B. Denniston, manager of the first major mine to open on the West Coast in the 1870s. During the first few decades of the 20th century, up to 1400 people lived in the townships on the Denniston Plateau to service the large coal mines there. Coal was transported in railway wagons from the plateau via the Denniston Incline to Conns Creek, where steam locomotives of New Zealand Railways took coal trains to the port of Westport. The Denniston Incline closed in 1967. The plateau now has a population of fewer than 10 people, and virtually all the buildings and structures are gone, although many historical relics remain – scattered throughout the plateau and incline area amongst the scrub vegetation. The open-cast Escarpment Mine Project was established ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coal Mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United Kingdom and South Africa, a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine is called a 'pit', and the above-ground structures are a ' pit head'. In Australia, "colliery" generally refers to an underground coal mine. Coal mining has had many developments in recent years, from the early days of men tunneling, digging and manually extracting the coal on carts to large open-cut and longwall mines. Mining at this scale requires the use of draglines, trucks, conveyors, hydraulic jacks and shearers. The coal mining industry has a long history of significant negative environmental impacts on local ecosystems, health impacts on local communities and workers, and contributes heavily ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.png "Click for more on -> Dredging")