Greta Valley is a town in North

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

, 83 km north of

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

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 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. It was named after the River Greta in Yorkshire by local runholders Sir Charles Clifford and Sir

Frederick Weld Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld (9 May 1823 – 20 July 1891), was a New Zealand politician and a governor of various British colonies. He was the sixth premier of New Zealand, and later served as Governor of Western Australia, Governor of Tasman ...

in the 1850s, but it is to the east of the

Greta River The Greta River is a river in the Hurunui District of New Zealand. It flows north-east into the Hurunui River, which runs into the Pacific Ocean south of Cheviot, New Zealand. State Highway 1 follows the river for part of its route between Che ...

and on the south bank of the Waikari River. It is situated approximately halfway between Christchurch and Cheviot just off State Highway 1.

2016 earthquake

On 22 November 2016 at 1813 hours an earthquake of 5.7 magnitude struck the town of Scargill, 2 kilometres north-west of Greta Valley. The earthquake was described by locals as severe due to its shallow depth of 7 kilometres. As a result, there was significant damage to the local community hall, houses, and water tanks. The earthquake was considered an aftershock of the

2016 Kaikōura earthquake The 2016 Kaikoura earthquake was a magnitude 7.8 (Mw) earthquake in the South Island of New Zealand that occurred two minutes after midnight on 14 November 2016 NZDT (11:02 on 13 November UTC). Ruptures occurred on multiple faults and the e ...

Demographics

Greta Valley is part of the wider Omihi statistical area.

Education

Greta Valley School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students, with a roll of as of . Facilities include a swimming pool, two playing fields, a tennis court and a library.

References

{{Hurunui District Populated places in Canterbury, New Zealand Hurunui District