Inch Clutha is a large, flat island sitting in the delta between the Matau (northern) and Koau (southern) branches of the

Clutha River The Clutha River (, officially gazetted as Clutha River / ) is the second longest river in New Zealand and the longest in the South Island. It flows south-southeast through Central and South Otago from Lake Wānaka in the Southern Alps to the P ...

, downstream from the town of Balclutha in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

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 ...

. Approximately long and wide, the fertile but flood-prone land of the island is extensively farmed. The island was formed in 1878 after a massive flood changed the course of the Clutha, which had formerly reached the ocean 4 km to the south at Port Molyneux. The island takes its name from Scots Gaelic, ''innis'' meaning "island" and ''Cluaidh'' being the Gaelic form of the name of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

River Clyde The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...

. The island is sparsely inhabited, consisting of a handful of farm houses distributed fairly evenly across the island. Only two bridges link the island to the South Island proper, both of them connecting with the Kaitangata Highway (former

SH 91 The following highways are numbered 91: International * European route E91 Australia * Cairns Western Arterial Road * Summerland Way Brasil * SP-91, state highway in Sao Paulo Canada * British Columbia Highway 91 ** British Columbia Highwa ...

), one at the northern end of the island close to

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

, and the other about one kilometre from Kaitangata. The southwestern shore of the island, along the Koau branch, includes several small

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are call ...

s – in the north, close to Finegand, and also some 3km from the

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

coast. The northern shore contains no current oxbows, though the Matau branch travels through several large meanders (especially close to Kaitangata) which are likely to eventually become oxbows. In the largest of these, a 3500 m loop of river bends back on itself to create a neck of farmland only some 120 metres wide. At the southern end of the island, a channel links the two branches, separating Inch Clutha from a smaller broad, low-lying barrier islet sitting between it and the Pacific coast. The northern tip of Inch Clutha sits directly across the Clutha River from

Balclutha Aerodrome Balclutha Aerodrome is a small airport 0.5 Nautical Miles (1 km) southeast of Balclutha township on the east coast of the South Island, New Zealand. The aerodrome An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American Englis ...

, on the southern edge of the town. The first settlers moved there in 1848 forming a small community.

References

*McKinnon, M.
Inch Clutha and the River Mouth
" ''

Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand ''Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand'' is an online encyclopedia established in 2001 by the New Zealand Government's Ministry for Culture and Heritage. The web-based content was developed in stages over the next several years; the first s ...

'', 29 July 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2018. River islands of New Zealand Islands of Otago Clutha River Clutha District {{Otago-geo-stub