Athol is a small town in
Southland Southland may refer to:
Places Canada
* Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia
New Zealand
* Southland Region, a region of New Zealand
* Southland County, a former New Zealand county
* Southland District, part of the wider Southland Reg ...
, New Zealand. It is located on , 55 km south of
Queenstown, halfway between
Lumsden and
Kingston on the
Southern Scenic Route
The Southern Scenic Route is a tourist highway in New Zealand linking Queenstown, Fiordland, Te Anau and the iconic Milford Road to Dunedin via, Riverton, Invercargill and The Catlins. An Australian travel magazine labelled it "one of the ...
. Farming has always been very important in the district, though in earlier times gold mining, centred on nearby
Nokomai, was also significant. In recent decades tourist numbers have grown. The
Mataura River
The Mataura River is in the Southland Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is long.
Description
The river's headwaters are located in the Eyre Mountains to the south of Lake Wakatipu. From there it flows southeast towards Gore, New ...
is well known for the quality of its
brown trout
The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...
fishing, and the
Around the Mountains Cycle Trail, opened in November 2014, has further boosted visitor figures.
Name
There is some uncertainty over how Athol received its name. The first record of it is when the township was surveyed in 1863. Several suggestions have been made. One is that it was named after Harry Athol, the proprietor of the first hotel. There is no early record of a person of this name and there may be a confusion with Harry Arthur, who ran the Athol accommodation house in the 1860s. Another is that it was named after the home district in Scotland of early landowner W. B. Rogers. As Rogers was born in New Zealand and his father came from Cumberland, England, this is not likely to be the case.
It seems probable it was named after
Atholl
Atholl or Athole ( gd, Athall; Old Gaelic ''Athfhotla'') is a large historical division in the Scottish Highlands, bordering (in anti-clockwise order, from Northeast) Marr, Badenoch, Lochaber, Breadalbane, Strathearn, Perth, and Gowrie. Histor ...
in Perthshire, Scotland and this might be because the Superintendent of
Southland Province
The Southland Province was a province of New Zealand from March 1861, when it split from Otago Province, until 1870, when it rejoined Otago.
History
Following the passage of the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 by the British Parliament, New ...
at the time of the survey,
Dr. James Menzies, came from there.
Geography
Athol is 275m above sea level. It lies on a small plain surrounded by mountains, including the Mid Dome (1478m) to the south and Flagstaff (1037m) to the east.
To the west of the township flow the
Eyre Creek and smaller Quoich Creek, and these join the Mataura River about 2 km to the south.
Notable people
*
Patrick Quirk Caples (c.1830 – 1904, explorer and gold prospector, who mined on Paddy's Alley in the mid 1860s
*
Adam Hamilton
Adam Hamilton (20 August 1880 – 29 April 1952) was a New Zealand politician. He was the first non-interim Leader of the National Party during its early years in Opposition.
Early life
Hamilton was born in Forest Hill, near Winton, South ...
(1880–1952), first leader of the
New Zealand National Party
The New Zealand National Party ( mi, Rōpū Nāhinara o Aotearoa), shortened to National () or the Nats, is a centre-right political party in New Zealand. It is one of two major parties that dominate contemporary New Zealand politics, alongside ...
, was the Presbyterian home missionary in Athol in 1910
*
Ack Soper (1936–2020), New Zealand rugby union player
References
External links
Athol - Homeprovides more information on the Athol community
{{Southland District
Populated places in Southland, New Zealand