Kapuka is a locality in the

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 Re ...

region of New Zealand's

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 ...

. It is situated between

Mokotua Mokotua is a locality in the Southland region of New Zealand's South Island. It is situated in a rural area east of Invercargill, between Timpanys and Kapuka on the Southern Scenic Route. To the south are Toetoes Bay and Waituna Lagoon; Rim ...

to the west and

Ashers Ashers is a locality in the Southland region of New Zealand's South Island. It is situated east of Invercargill on the Southern Scenic Route as it runs between Kapuka and Gorge Road. Other nearby settlements include Oteramika to the north and ...

to the east 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 ...

;

Oteramika Oteramika is a locality in the Southland region of New Zealand's South Island. It is in a rural setting near Waituna and Woodlands to the north, Rimu to the west, and to the south on the Southern Scenic Route are Mokotua, Kapuka, and Ashers. ...

is to the north, and

Kapuka South Kapuka South is a locality in the Southland region of New Zealand's South Island. It is situated on Toetoes Bay and Waituna Lagoon. Kapuka and Ashers are to the north on the Southern Scenic Route. Economy Agriculture figures prominently in ...

Waituna Lagoon __NOTOC__ The Waituna Lagoon is on the southern coastline of the South Island of New Zealand. It forms part of the Awarua Wetland, a Ramsar site that was established in 1976. It gives it name to waituna, a type of ephemeral coastal lake. The la ...

, and

Toetoes Bay Toetoes Bay is the easternmost of three large bays lying on the Foveaux Strait coast of Southland, New Zealand, the others being Te Waewae Bay and Oreti Beach. The 240 km Mataura River drains to sea at Toetoes Bay, first passing through the ...

are to the south.

Economy

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

figures prominently in Kapuka's economy due to its rural location. It has been the site of experimentation to improve the milk output of

dairy cattle Dairy cattle (also called dairy cows) are cattle bred for the ability to produce large quantities of milk, from which dairy products are made. Dairy cattle generally are of the species ''Bos taurus''. Historically, little distinction was mad ...

by introducing genes of European

holstein Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...

breeds. Significant

lignite Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

deposits are also located in the vicinity of Kapuka. The Ashers-Waituna

coalfield A coalfield is an area of certain uniform characteristics where coal is mined. The criteria for determining the approximate boundary of a coalfield are geographical and cultural, in addition to geological. A coalfield often groups the seams of ...

contains roughly 746

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

s of recoverable coal. Exploratory work has been undertaken, but commercial mining has not yet taken place.

Railway

On 1 March 1895, an extension of the Seaward Bush Branch from Mokotua to

Gorge Road Gorge Road is a locality in the Southland region of New Zealand's South Island. It is on the Southern Scenic Route and is situated on the western bank of the Mataura River. Nearby settlements include Ashers to the west, and across the Mataura ...

was opened, with a station located in Kapuka. At one point, the station was actually named Oteramika. Trains operated from Invercargill and return only a couple of times a week until a further extension to

Waimahaka Waimahaka is a locality in the Southland region of New Zealand's South Island. It is situated in a rural area, inland from Toetoes Bay. Nearby settlements include Pine Bush and Titiroa to the northwest, Fortification and Te Peka to the east, ...

opened in 1899. At this point,

mixed train A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. Although common in the early days of railways, by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. Typically, servic ...

s from Waimahaka to Invercargill and return began operating through Kapuka daily. The line's profitability declined from the 1930s, and in 1951, the mixed train was cut to run just once a week as a cost-saving measure, with goods-only trains on other days. On 1 June 1960, all passenger services through Kapuka were cancelled; freight also continued to remain at unprofitable levels, and the whole line closed on 31 March 1966. Some of the line's old

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 secondar ...

can still be seen in the vicinity of Kapuka.David Leitch and Brian Scott, ''Exploring New Zealand's Ghost Railways'', revised edition (Wellington: Grantham House, 1998

995 Year 995 (Roman numerals, CMXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * 17 May - Fujiwara no Michitaka (imperial regent) dies. * 3 June: Fujiwara no ...

, 125–126.

References

{{coord, 46, 28, S, 168, 38, E, display=title, region:NZ_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Populated places in Southland, New Zealand