Clutha District is a

local government district The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...

of southern

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 ...

, with its headquarters in the

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

town of Balclutha. The Clutha District has a land area of and an estimated population of as of . Clutha District occupies the majority of the geographical area known as

South Otago South Otago lies in the south east of the South Island of New Zealand. As the name suggests, it forms the southernmost part of the geographical region of Otago. The exact definition of the area designated as South Otago is imprecise, as the area is ...

Geography

The geography of the Clutha District is dominated by the valley 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 ...

, which flows southeast from the lakes of

Central Otago Central Otago is located in the inland part of the Otago region in the South Island of New Zealand. The motto for the area is "A World of Difference". The area is dominated by mountain ranges and the upper reaches of the Clutha River and tributa ...

, bisecting the Clutha District and reaching the

Pacific Ocean 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 ...

via two river mouths, one of which is not far from Kaitangata, the other is closer to Kaka Point. The two branches of the river (the Matau and the Kouau) form the island of Inch Clutha. To the south of this is the rough bush country of

the Catlins The Catlins (sometimes referred to as The Catlins Coast) comprises an area in the southeastern corner of the South Island of New Zealand. The area lies between Balclutha and Invercargill, straddling the boundary between the Otago and Southlan ...

, with its forests and rugged coastline. To the north of the Clutha valley is mainly rolling hill country, with the plain of the

Tokomairaro River The Tokomairaro River is located in Otago, New Zealand. It flows southeast for some 50 kilometres (30 mi), reaching the Pacific Ocean at Toko Mouth 50 kilometres (30 mi) south of Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-la ...

to the northeast, along with

Lake Waihola Lake Waihola is a 640 ha tidal freshwater lake located 15 km north of Milton in Otago, in New Zealand's South Island. Its area is some 9 square kilometres, with a maximum length of 6 kilometres and a mean depth of 0.75m. It is the larg ...

and

Lake Waipori Lake Waipori is the smaller and shallower of the pair of lakes located in the wetlands to the south west of Dunedin in New Zealand on the Waipori River. The Waipori River is a major tributary of the Taieri River, and these wetlands form the south ...

, which are part of the catchment of the

Taieri River The Taieri River is the fourth-longest river in New Zealand and is in Otago in the South Island. Rising in the Lammerlaw Range, it initially flows north, then east around the Rock and Pillar range before turning southeast, reaching the sea sou ...

. The

Waipori River The Waipori River is in Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. Rising in the Lammerlaw Range, it flows southeast for before joining the Taieri River near Henley, southwest of Dunedin of which it is officially the southernmost border. Goog ...

, the Taieri's largest tributary, forms the northeastern border of Clutha District. Balclutha_bridge

Administration

Clutha District is under the local body administration of the Clutha District Council, based in Balclutha. It is administered at a regional level by the

Otago Regional Council Otago Regional Council (ORC) is the regional council for Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. The council's principal office is Regional House on Stafford Street in Dunedin with 250-275 staff, with smaller offices in Queenstown and Alexand ...

, based in Dunedin. Clutha District was formerly composed of three separate counties (Clutha, Bruce, and Tuapeka), and two boroughs (Balclutha and Milton). These were amalgamated into one district authority in 1989 as part of a nationwide reorganisation of local government. Bruce, an area surrounding Milton, and including the Tokomairaro Plains, had an area of 1,357 km². It included the townships of Waihola, Milburn and

Waitahuna Waitahuna is a small rural hamlet in the Otago region of New Zealand's South Island. It is from Lawrence. In the 19th century, the town thrived after the discovery of gold. The Waitahuna Gully Miner's Monument commemorates this discovery and ...

. Clutha, which included the delta of the Clutha River and extended down the Catlins coast, had an area of 2,664.5 km². It included the townships of Kaitangata,

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 ...

Owaka Owaka is a small town in the Clutha District of South Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. It is the largest community in the rugged, forested Catlins area, close to the border with Southland, some south of Balclutha on the Southern Sc ...

, and Benhar. The remaining area, Tuapeka, was centred on

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

, and included the inland valleys of the Clutha River and its tributaries the Pomahaka River and

Tuapeka River The Tuapeka River is located in Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. It is a tributary of the Clutha River, which it joins at Tuapeka Mouth between Roxburgh and Balclutha. The Tuapeka's main claim to fame is as the centre of the Central Ot ...

. It had an area of 2,323 km². The current mayor is Bryan Cadogan, who defeated incumbent mayor

Juno Hayes The Mayor of Clutha officiates over the Clutha District of New Zealand which is administered by the Clutha District Council Clutha District Council is the territorial authority for the Clutha District of New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, A ...

in the 2010 local body elections, and retained the mayoralty in the 2013, 2016 and 2019 elections. Mr Cadogan's deputy is Stewart Cowie.

Demographics

The most populous town in Clutha District is Balclutha, which lies 81 km south of

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 ...

by road. Balclutha's population was in . Other towns are Milton (pop. ), Kaitangata,

Tapanui Tapanui is a small town in West Otago in New Zealand's South Island, close to the boundary with Southland region. It is a forestry town at the foot of the Blue Mountains and the Pomahaka River. Popular pastimes include deer stalking and trout f ...

, Clinton,

Kaka Point Kaka Point is a small town at the northern edge of The Catlins, an area of the southern South Island of New Zealand. It is located 14 km south of Balclutha and 8 km north of the headland of Nugget Point. It has a seasonally fluctuati ...

, and Benhar. Clutha District covers and had a population of as of with a population density of people per km². Clutha District had a population of 17,667 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 777 people (4.6%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 828 people (4.9%) 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 7,020 households. There were 9,195 males and 8,472 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.09 males per female. The median age was 42.6 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 3,411 people (19.3%) aged under 15 years, 2,898 (16.4%) aged 15 to 29, 8,271 (46.8%) aged 30 to 64, and 3,087 (17.5%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 88.8% European/Pākehā, 12.4% Māori, 1.9% Pacific peoples, 3.6% Asian, and 1.9% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 11.3, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people objected to giving their religion, 54.7% had no religion, 34.3% were Christian, 0.3% were Hindu, 0.4% were Muslim, 0.7% were Buddhist and 1.7% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 1,611 (11.3%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 3,822 (26.8%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $30,900, compared with $31,800 nationally. 1,620 people (11.4%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 7,539 (52.9%) people were employed full-time, 2,235 (15.7%) were part-time, and 393 (2.8%) were unemployed.

References

External links

Clutha District Council
{{Cities and districts of New Zealand