Ross is a small town located in the

Westland District Westland District is a territorial authority district on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is administered by the Westland District Council. The district's population is History Westland was originally a part of Canterbury P ...

on the West Coast 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 ...

, south-west of

Hokitika Hokitika is a town in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island, south of Greymouth, and close to the mouth of the Hokitika River. It is the seat and largest town in the Westland District. The town's estimated population is as of ...

and north-east of Hari Hari by road.

History

Ross was established in the 1860s, during the West Coast Gold Rush, and became an important centre for miners. At its largest, the town had around 2,500 inhabitants, but the population declined after local goldfields were depleted in the early 1870s.

Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical f ...

was occasionally mined on Mount Greenland, a nearby ridge, but little more gold was found until two miners discovered a large 3.1-kilogram nugget in 1909, which was later named the "Honourable Roddy Nugget", after Roderick McKenzie, the Minister for Mines at the time. From 1872 to the early 1900s a number of Chinese lived and worked in Ross, and a Chinese Miners' Memorial Garden on the shore of Ross Lake commemorates them. The settlement was originally called Jones Flat, but was also sometimes known as Georgetown and Totara. It was given the name Rosstown, which was shortened to Ross in about 1866, after George Ross, who was the

Canterbury Provincial Council The Canterbury Province was a province of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. Its capital was Christchurch. History Canterbury was founded in December 1850 by the Canterbury Association of influential Eng ...

's treasurer at the time of the naming.

Local government

Following the abolition of

Westland Province The Westland Province was a province of New Zealand from 1873 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. The capital was Hokitika. Area and history The area was part of Canterbury Province when the provinces were created in 1853. By ...

in 1876, Ross became part of

Westland County Westland County, also known as County of Westland, was a local government area on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It existed from 1868 to 1873, and then from 1876 until 1989. In its first incarnation, it constituted the government f ...

. In 1878,

Ross Borough The Ross Borough was the borough council covering the town of Ross, New Zealand and the nearby locality Donoghues, between 1878 and 1972, when Ross Borough was merged back into Westland County (1876–1989), Westland County. History The area was ...

was formed, with its own borough council and mayor, and remained in existence until 1972, when it merged back into Westland County. Since the local government reforms of 1989, Ross has been part of

Demographics

Ross is defined by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement and covers . It is part of the wider Waitaha statistical area, which covers . The Ross settlement had a usual resident population of 285 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 short ...

, a decrease of 12 people (−4.0%) since the 2013 census, and a decrease of 6 people (−2.1%) since the 2006 census.

Waitaha statistical area

The Waitaha statistical area had a population of 450 at the

, a decrease of 21 people (−4.5%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 12 people (2.7%) since the 2006 census. There were 213 households. There were 246 males and 204 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.21 males per female. The median age was 51.7 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 72 people (16.0%) aged under 15 years, 51 (11.3%) aged 15 to 29, 231 (51.3%) aged 30 to 64, and 99 (22.0%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 90.7% European/Pākehā, 14.7% Māori, 0.7% Pacific peoples, 2.0% Asian, and 4.0% 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, 58.7% had no religion, 30.7% were Christian and 3.3% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 39 (10.3%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 129 (34.1%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $24,300, compared with $31,800 nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 195 (51.6%) people were employed full-time, 75 (19.8%) were part-time, and 12 (3.2%) were unemployed.

Economy

The town's economy is based around farming and

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

; a large

open-cut In civil engineering, a cut or cutting is where soil or rock from a relative rise along a route is removed. The term is also used in river management to speed a waterway's flow by short-cutting a meander. Cuts are typically used in road, ra ...

mine operated directly adjacent to the town since 1988, and the large pit it created was filled with water in the 2000s to create Ross Lake.

Amenities and attractions

Amenities in Ross include a dairy/convenience store with a

New Zealand Post NZ Post ( mi, Tukurau Aotearoa), shortened from New Zealand Post, is a state-owned enterprise responsible for providing postal service in New Zealand. The New Zealand Post Office, a government agency, provided postal, banking, and telecommuni ...

agency and a small self-service petrol station, a volunteer fire brigade and a police station. Ross Chinese Miners' Memorial Garden

Beside Ross Lake is the Chinese Miners' Memorial Garden, created over a two-year period by the Ross volunteer group Westland Regional Environment Incorporated Society (WRENIS) led by Biddy Manera, at a cost of $180,000. It includes a Chinese pavilion (liang ting) and ornamental tree planting. In winter 2020 a slip in Jones Creek blocked the outlet of the lake, and the pavilion was flooded and thousands of dollars worth of trees and shrubs were killed. Fully repairing the lake outlet would require a resource consent, so in the meantime WRENIS volunteers dug a small channel by hand to divert some of the flow of Jones Creek to a culvert, allowing lake levels to stabilise; work done by hand did not require a consent. Their work was repeatedly vandalised, however, for months and on an almost daily basis, causing the lake to rise and drown the gardens again. The Westland Regional Council, which manages waterways, was called in to support WRENIS's efforts. After two rounds of public consultation involving the

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...

, the Westland District Council, and the Ross Community society, all parties agreed in March 2021 to lower the lake levels and prevent future flooding, with the District Council covering the cost of the resource consent.

Transport and infrastructure

State Highway 6 passes through the town, connecting it in the north to Hokitika and south to Hari Hari and

Franz Josef Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until his ...

. Intercity Coaches provides a bus service tor Ross with daily services to both

Fox Glacier Fox Glacier (; officially Fox Glacier / Te Moeka o Tuawe) is a temperate maritime glacier located in Westland Tai Poutini National Park on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Like nearby Franz Josef Glacier, Fox Glacier is one of t ...

and

Greymouth Greymouth () (Māori: ''Māwhera'') is the largest town in the West Coast region in the South Island of New Zealand, and the seat of the Grey District Council. The population of the whole Grey District is , which accounts for % of the West Coas ...

. Ross is at the southern end of the

West Coast Wilderness Trail The West Coast Wilderness Trail has been funded as one of the projects of the New Zealand Cycle Trail. Once complete, the track will connect Greymouth in the north with Ross in the south. History The overall New Zealand Cycle Trail project is a ...

, a cycle route with its northern end at

. 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 p ...

known as the Ross Branch was extended from

Ruatapu Ruatapu was a son of the great chief Uenuku, and a master canoeist in Polynesian tradition who is said to have lived around 30 generations ago. Most Māori stories agree he was an older half-brother of Paikea and 69 other sons, while tradi ...

to Ross on 1 April 1909, serving as the southern terminus of the line owned by the

New Zealand Railways Department The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR (New Zealand Government Railways) and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway ...

. However, a lengthy privately owned bush tramway ran south from the railway station to serve logging interests near

Lake Ianthe Lake Ianthe / Matahi is a lake located on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. A number of small streams flow into the lake and it empties into the Wanganui River. It is close to the coast and near the rural settlements of Pukekur ...

and a railway extension from Ross through the Haast Pass to connect with the

Otago Central Railway The Otago Central Railway (OCR) or in later years Otago Central Branch Railway, now often referred to as the Taieri Gorge Railway, was a secondary railway line in Central Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. Construction Construction o ...

was proposed in the early 20th century, but did not eventuate. From the 1940s until 9 October 1962, a Vulcan railcar service operated directly from

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 Rive ...

to Ross twice a day. A lack of traffic and expensive maintenance costs meant the line was closed beyond Hokitika on 24 November 1980. Much of the old

track bed The track bed or trackbed is the groundwork onto which a railway track is laid. Trackbeds of disused railways are sometimes used for recreational paths or new light rail links. According to Network Rail, the trackbed is the layers of ballast a ...

between Ruatapu and Hokitika can be driven as it serves as an access road for local farmers, and a disused truss bridge still stands north of Ross.

Education

Ross School, Ross, West Coast, New Zealand

Ross School is the sole school in the town. It is a coeducational contributing (year 1–6)

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

with a roll of students as of The school opened in 1875 and celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2000. The nearest intermediate and secondary school (year 7–13) is Westland High School in Hokitika.