Roxburgh (previously called Teviot and Teviot Junction) is a small New Zealand town of about 600 people in Central Otago. It is in

Teviot Valley Roxburgh (previously called Teviot and Teviot Junction) is a small New Zealand town of about 600 people in Central Otago. It is in Teviot Valley on the banks of the Clutha River, south of Alexandra in the South Island. State Highway 8, which ...

on the banks 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 ...

, south of

Alexandra Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "prot ...

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 ...

. State Highway 8, which links Central Otago with

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

city, passes through the town. Roxburgh is well known for its Summer fruit and " Jimmy's Pies." An important centre during the

Otago Gold Rush The Otago Gold Rush (often called the Central Otago Gold Rush) was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand. This was the country's biggest gold strike, and led to a rapid influx of foreign miners to the area – ...

of the 1860s, in more recent times Roxburgh has relied on a mixture of livestock and

stone fruit In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part ( exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel' ...

production for its economic survival. It is one of the country's most important

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

growing regions and other stone fruit such as cherries and

apricots An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus '' Prunus''. Usually, an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are al ...

are also harvested locally. Five kilometres to the north of the town is the

Roxburgh Dam The Roxburgh Dam is the earliest of the large hydroelectric projects in the lower half of the South Island of New Zealand. It lies across the Clutha River / Mata-Au, some from Dunedin, some to the north of the town of Roxburgh. The settlement of ...

, the earliest of the major

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

dams built on the Clutha. There is also an opencast

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 ...

mine located just north of town at Coal Creek.

History

The town was called Teviot, and from 1863 to 1866 Teviot Junction, but this name is instead now used for places such as the Teviot Valley and the

Teviot River The Teviot River is a river in New Zealand, a tributary of the Clutha River. See also *List of rivers of New Zealand This is a list of all waterways named as rivers in New Zealand. A * Aan River * Acheron River (Canterbury) * Acheron Rive ...

. The name Roxburgh was adopted on 18 April 1877. The name of the town comes from Roxburghshire in Scotland and was after the first European settlers arrived in the area. From 1928 until 1968, Roxburgh was served by the

Roxburgh Branch The Roxburgh Branch was a branch line railway built in the Otago region of New Zealand's South Island that formed part of the country's national rail network. Originally known as the Lawrence Branch, it was one of the longest construction pr ...

, a

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote 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. Industrial spur An industr ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

that ran to the town from 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 in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the South Island to Inverca ...

. The railway never actually reached the town itself as the terminus was located about 2 km south of Roxburgh at the small settlement known as Hercules Flat. For the entire period the line served Roxburgh, it made a working loss, but it helped to promote economic development in the town and was an important means of supplying materials for the Roxburgh Dam. Today, relics of the town's former status as a railway terminus still exist, including a

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

pit, a

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towers often operate in conju ...

for

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s, and the station building has been converted into a hayshed and workshop. Most of the houses which once housed railway workers (also known as "Railway Houses") still stand and are now in private ownership. The Roxburgh War Memorial was unveiled on 24 May 1923. It is a square obelisk and lists the names of the 42 men from the town and local region who died in both World War One and Two. When unveiled it included mounted on a plinth, a German Rheinmetall 17 cm mittlerer Minenwerfer and a Maxim MG 08 Heavy Machine gun which was mounted on a tripod. The Mortar was captured by the 12th Company ( Nelson ) 2nd Canterbury Infantry Battalion on 2 August 1918, and returned to New Zealand as a war trophy. The Maxim Gun was stolen some time during the 1970s and the mortar was relocated on 16 March 2003 when a new Memorial Plaque was placed outside the Council Building & Returned Services Association club-rooms. Town scenes from the 2004 film '' In My Father's Den'' were filmed in Roxburgh.

Demographics

Roxburgh is described by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement. It covers . It is part of the much larger Teviot Valley statistical area. Roxburgh had a population of 588 at the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the sho ...

, an increase of 60 people (11.4%) since the 2013 census, and a decrease of 18 people (-3.0%) since the

2006 census 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. There were 279 households. There were 267 males and 324 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.82 males per female, with 84 people (14.3%) aged under 15 years, 60 (10.2%) aged 15 to 29, 255 (43.4%) aged 30 to 64, and 189 (32.1%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 86.7% European/Pākehā, 14.8% Māori, 5.6% Pacific peoples, 4.6% Asian, and 1.5% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). Although some people objected to giving their religion, 44.9% had no religion, 44.4% were Christian, 0.5% were Muslim, 0.5% were Buddhist and 1.5% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 63 (12.5%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 150 (29.8%) people had no formal qualifications. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 222 (44.0%) people were employed full-time, 69 (13.7%) were part-time, and 3 (0.6%) were unemployed.

Teviot Valley

Teviot Valley statistical area covers and also includes

Lake Roxburgh village A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

Millers Flat Millers Flat is a small town in inland Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. It is located on the Clutha River, 17 kilometres south of Roxburgh. Fruit growing is the main industry in the area. Most of the town lies on the north bank of the ...

and Ettrick. It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Teviot Valley had a population of 1,779 at the

, an increase of 216 people (13.8%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 96 people (5.7%) since the

. There were 750 households. There were 930 males and 849 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.1 males per female. The median age was 50.0 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 249 people (14.0%) aged under 15 years, 240 (13.5%) aged 15 to 29, 840 (47.2%) aged 30 to 64, and 447 (25.1%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 87.0% European/Pākehā, 9.9% Māori, 8.3% Pacific peoples, 2.2% Asian, and 1.5% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). The proportion of people born overseas was 17.0%, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people objected to giving their religion, 48.1% had no religion, 42.2% were Christian, 0.3% were Hindu, 0.2% were Muslim, 0.3% were Buddhist and 1.3% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 165 (10.8%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 399 (26.1%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $25,800, compared with $31,800 nationally. 132 people (8.6%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 816 (53.3%) people were employed full-time, 231 (15.1%) were part-time, and 15 (1.0%) were unemployed.

Entertainment

Roxburgh has New Zealand's oldest operating

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

. It opened 11 December 1897 on Scotland Street and is still operating. The cinema seats 258 persons and is one of only four cinemas left in Central Otago. Live shows are also performed occasionally.

Education

Roxburgh Area School is a co-educational state area school for Year 1 to 13 students, with a roll of as of . Education in the Roxburgh area started in 1865. At Coal Creek Flat north of Roxburgh, a school was mentioned in 1877, another operated from 1884 to 1930, and a third opened in 1950 Roxburgh Hydro school flourished from the 1950s to the 1970s. Roxburgh District High School operated from 1926, and was renamed to Roxburgh Area School in 1976.

References

External links

{{Central Otago 1890s in New Zealand cinema Central Otago District Populated places in Otago