Whitecliffs is a village located in the

Selwyn District Selwyn District is a predominantly rural district in central Canterbury, on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is named after the Selwyn River / Waikirikiri, which is in turn named after Bishop George Selwyn, the first Anglican bis ...

of the

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. ...

region of

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 ...

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 has also been known as South Malvern (

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

was formerly known as Malvern), and the name of Whitecliffs comes from terrace cliffs above the

Selwyn River / Waikirikiri The Selwyn River / Waikirikiri flows through the Selwyn District of Canterbury in the South Island of New Zealand. Description The river has its source in the Southern Alps and flows east for before emptying into Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora, ...

Demographics

Malvern Hills-Whitecliffs is described by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement, and covers . It is part of the Glentunnel statistical area. Malvern Hills-Whitecliffs had a population of 174 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 21 people (13.7%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 45 people (34.9%) 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 81 households. There were 84 males and 90 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.93 males per female. The median age was 44.8 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 33 people (19.0%) aged under 15 years, 21 (12.1%) aged 15 to 29, 93 (53.4%) aged 30 to 64, and 27 (15.5%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 94.8% European/Pākehā, 8.6% Māori, and 1.7% Pacific peoples (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). Although some people objected to giving their religion, 58.6% had no religion and 27.6% were Christian. Of those at least 15 years old, 30 (21.3%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 33 (23.4%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $34,700, compared with $31,800 nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 72 (51.1%) people were employed full-time, 21 (14.9%) were part-time, and 6 (4.3%) were unemployed.

Industry

The town was once significantly larger and home to industrial activity such as

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...

and

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

-making, and

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 ...

and

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

mining took place nearby. No industry takes place anymore.

Transport

The town's economic importance was significant enough for the

Whitecliffs Branch The Whitecliffs Branch was an long branch line railway that formed part of New Zealand's national rail network in the Canterbury region of the South Island. It was more industrial than the many rural branches on the South Island's east coast ...

, 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 ...

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 ...

from the Midland Line, to be built to the town. It opened on 3 November 1875. Passenger services ceased on 13 March 1949, and due to declining freight, the line was closed entirely on 31 March 1962. The railway's engine shed still stands in the town.

References

External links

Information about Whitecliffs
{{Selwyn Selwyn District Populated places in Canterbury, New Zealand