Hedgehope is a locality in the central Southland region of New Zealand's

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

. Located in the

Hokonui Hills The Hokonui Hills, also known as ''The Hokonui Mountains'' or simply ''The Hokonui'', are a range of hills in central Southland, New Zealand. They rise to 600 metres above the surrounding Southland Plains, of which the hills mark a northern ext ...

, Winton is to the west,

Mataura Mataura is a town in the Southland region of the South Island of New Zealand. Mataura has a meat processing plant, and until 2000 it was the site of a large pulp and paper mill. Geography Mataura is situated on and the Main South Line rail ...

to the east, and Mabel Bush to the south. The nearest city is

Invercargill Invercargill ( , ) is the southernmost and westernmost list of cities in New Zealand, city in New Zealand, and one of the Southernmost settlements, southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland Region, Southlan ...

, over 25 km to the southwest. passes through Hedgehope as it travels between Springhills and Glencoe. Hedgehope is named for the nearby Mount Hedgehope. The surveyor

John Turnbull Thomson John Turnbull Thomson (10 August 1821 – 16 October 1884) was a British civil engineer and artist who played an instrumental role in the development of the early infrastructure of nineteenth-century Colonial Singapore, Singapore and New Zealan ...

named the mountain after the second-highest peak in the

Cheviot Hills The Cheviot Hills (), or sometimes The Cheviots, are a range of uplands straddling the Anglo-Scottish border between Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. The English section is within the Northumberland National Park. The range includes ...

of his native

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

. Hedgehope was also once the terminus of the Hedgehope Branch railway. On 17 July 1899, a

branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...

diverging from the

Kingston Branch The Kingston Branch was a major railway line in Southland, New Zealand. It formed part of New Zealand's national rail network for over a century: construction began in 1864, Kingston was reached in 1878, and it closed in 1979. For much ...

in Winton was opened to Hedgehope and it served the town for over half a century. Due to low demand, passengers always had to travel in carriages attached to slow freight services; these were known as

mixed train A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. In some countries, the term refers to a freight train carrying various different types of freight rather a single commodity. Although common in the ...

s. The rise of private car ownership in the 1920s caused the quantity of passengers to slip to levels unsustainable for even mixed trains, and accordingly passenger provisions were cancelled from 9 February 1931. Freight quantities also steadily declined, and in the early 1950s, the decision was taken to close over half the branch. On 24 December 1953, the branch was truncated to Browns and Hedgehope's railway service fully ceased. Today, there is little evidence left of the railway's existence apart from some of its former

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondary ...

Demographics

The Hedgehope statistical area covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². The statistical area had a population of 1,179 at the

2018 New Zealand census The 2018 New Zealand census, which took place on Tuesday 6 March 2018, was the thirty-fourth national census in New Zealand. The population of New Zealand was counted as 4,699,755 – an increase of 457,707 (10.79%) over the 2013 census. Resu ...

, an increase of 69 people (6.2%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 135 people (12.9%) since the 2006 census. There were 414 households, comprising 600 males and 579 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.04 males per female. The median age was 35.6 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 306 people (26.0%) aged under 15 years, 195 (16.5%) aged 15 to 29, 564 (47.8%) aged 30 to 64, and 114 (9.7%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 89.6% European/

Pākehā ''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...

, 9.7%

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

, 6.4% Asian, and 2.3% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 13.7, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 49.1% had no religion, 40.7% were

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

, 0.3% had

Māori religious beliefs Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

, 0.5% were

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

and 1.3% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 138 (15.8%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 186 (21.3%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $43,700, compared with $31,800 nationally. 201 people (23.0%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 528 (60.5%) people were employed full-time, 171 (19.6%) were part-time, and 21 (2.4%) were unemployed.

Education

Hedgehope School is a full primary school for years 1 to 8 with a roll of as of The school first opened in 1878.

References

{{Southland District Populated places in the Southland Region