Washdyke is an

industrial suburb An industrial suburb is a community, near a large city, with an industrial economy. These communities may be established as tax havens or as places where zoning promotes industry, or they may be industrial towns that become suburbs by urban spra ...

in the north of

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...

, in south

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

, New Zealand.

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 numbere ...

passes through Washdyke on the way north out of the city. The northern terminus of State Highway 8 is in Washdyke. Washdyke is home of Timaru's horse racetrack, "Phar Lap Raceway" - named after champion racehorse

Phar Lap Phar Lap (4 October 1926 – 5 April 1932) was a champion New Zealand–bred Thoroughbred racehorse who is widely regarded as New Zealand's greatest racehorse ever. Achieving incredible success during his distinguished career, his initial ...

, who was foaled here in 1926. 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 ...

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 ...

passes through Washdyke, and it was formerly the location of a railway junction. On 18 February 1874, construction began on 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 industri ...

to Pleasant Point; this line ultimately became known as the

Fairlie Branch The Fairlie Branch (also known as the Eversley Branch) was a branch line railway in southern Canterbury which formed part of New Zealand's national railway network. Construction began in 1874, and at its farthest extent, it terminated just be ...

when it was opened past Pleasant Point to Fairlie in 1884. Declining traffic led to the closure of the branch on 2 March 1968 and since then, the Main South Line has been the only railway through Washdyke. Passenger services through Washdyke ceased on 10 February 2002 with the cancellation of the Southerner express that operated between

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

and

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

. Washdyke primary school was implicated in a child sex and pornography scandal mid 1970s that no one has yet been held accountable for. Slightly south of the suburb is

Washdyke Lagoon Washdyke Lagoon is a brackish shallow coastal lagoon approximately north of Timaru, South Canterbury, New Zealand. The lagoon has drastically reduced in size since 1881 when it was approximately , now it is less than in area. It is enclosed by a ...

, a medium-sized tidal lagoon which a variety of wading birds frequent.

Demographics

Washdyke covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Washdyke had a population of 1,017 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 75 people (8.0%) since the 2013 census, and a decrease of 27 people (-2.6%) 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 411 households. There were 522 males and 498 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.05 males per female. The median age was 44.6 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 177 people (17.4%) aged under 15 years, 168 (16.5%) aged 15 to 29, 468 (46.0%) aged 30 to 64, and 204 (20.1%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 90.3% European/Pākehā, 9.7% Māori, 2.7% Pacific peoples, 4.4% Asian, and 1.8% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). The proportion of people born overseas was 10.0%, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people objected to giving their religion, 48.4% had no religion, 38.9% were Christian, 0.6% were Muslim, 0.6% were Buddhist and 3.2% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 63 (7.5%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 237 (28.2%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $32,300, compared with $31,800 nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 447 (53.2%) people were employed full-time, 114 (13.6%) were part-time, and 18 (2.1%) were unemployed.

Education

Washdyke School was a primary school which opened in 1874 and was merged with Marchwiel School to form Oceanview Heights School on the Marchwiel site in 2004.

References

{{Timaru District, New Zealand Suburbs of Timaru Populated places in Canterbury, New Zealand

Demographics

Education

See also

References