Hinds is a small town in the Mid-

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

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 ...

. It is located on the

Canterbury Plains The Canterbury Plains () are an area in New Zealand centred in the Mid Canterbury, to the south of the city of Christchurch in the Canterbury region. Their northern extremes are at the foot of the Hundalee Hills in the Hurunui District, and ...

on the south bank of the

Hinds River The Hinds River (Māori: Hekeao) is a river in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. Its north and south branches drain the eastern flank of the Moorhouse Range, part of the Southern Alps, and their confluence is near Anama and Mayfield. T ...

, which reaches the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

between the nearby localities of Longbeach and

Lowcliffe Lowcliffe is a lightly populated locality in the mid-Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It is situated on the shore of the Pacific Ocean between the mouths of the Hinds and Rangitata Rivers. Nearby settlements include Coldstrea ...

. Other localities around Hinds include

Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

to the west, Willowby,

Windermere Windermere (historically Winder Mere) is a ribbon lake in Cumbria, England, and part of the Lake District. It is the largest lake in England by length, area, and volume, but considerably smaller than the List of lakes and lochs of the United Ki ...

, and Winslow to the northeast, and Eiffelton to the southeast.

Naming

The township and the surrounding district are named after the Hinds River. The river in turn was named after the Reverend Samuel Hinds, a member of the

Canterbury Association The Canterbury Association was formed in 1848 in England by Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), members of parliament, Peerage of the United Kingdom, peers, and Anglicanism, Anglican church leaders, to establish a colony in New Zealand. The se ...

that organised the settlement of Canterbury.

History

State Highway 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbered S ...

and the

Main South Line The Main South Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, is a railway line that runs north and south from Lyttelton, New Zealand, Lyttelton in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the ...

railway pass through Hinds. Passenger trains have not regularly operated through Hinds since the cancellation of the daily Southerner service on 10 February 2002, but freight trains run multiple times every day. The town also has a primary school; it dates from 1881 and the original classrooms are still in use. The school's size was boosted in the 1930s when rural schools in Ealing, Maronan, and Lynnford were closed and their students sent to Hinds. There were plans to build a secondary school in Hinds, but these never eventuated and the primary school gained land set aside for the secondary school. In 2011 with the closure of the rural school in

their students were sent to Hinds.

Demographics

Hinds is described by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement, and covers . It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Hinds is part of the Ealing-Lowcliffe statistical area. Hinds 28

Hinds had a population of 291 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 ...

, a decrease of 9 people (−3.0%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 9 people (3.2%) since the 2006 census. There were 114 households, comprising 153 males and 138 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.11 males per female, with 57 people (19.6%) aged under 15 years, 54 (18.6%) aged 15 to 29, 150 (51.5%) aged 30 to 64, and 36 (12.4%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 90.7% 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 ...

, 14.4%

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 ...

, 2.1% Pasifika, 2.1% Asian, and 1.0% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 55.7% had no religion, 30.9% 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 ...

, 1.0% 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 ...

, 2.1% 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 ...

, 1.0% were

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

and 1.0% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 9 (3.8%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 75 (32.1%) people had no formal qualifications. 21 people (9.0%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 129 (55.1%) people were employed full-time, 39 (16.7%) were part-time, and 12 (5.1%) were unemployed.

Education

Hinds School is a full primary school catering for years 1 to 8. It has students as of The school opened in 1881.

References

{{Ashburton District, New Zealand Ashburton District Populated places in the Canterbury Region