Mackenzie 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 ...

on 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 ...

, administered by the Mackenzie District Council. It is part of the larger

Canterbury Region Canterbury ( mi, Waitaha) is a region of New Zealand, located in the central-eastern South Island. The region covers an area of , making it the largest region in the country by area. It is home to a population of The region in its current f ...

Geography

Principal settlements

The Mackenzie District only has three towns with a permanent population over 300 at the 2013 census: * Fairlie (pop. 690) – seat of the district *

Twizel Twizel () is the largest town in the Mackenzie District, in the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand. The town was founded in 1968 to house construction workers on the Upper Waitaki Hydroelectric Scheme. Today, Twizel is a se ...

(pop. 1,140) – the district's largest town * Tekapo (pop. 370) Other smaller settlements include: *

Mount Cook Village Aoraki / Mount Cook, often referred to as Mount Cook Village, is located within New Zealand's Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park at the end of , only south of the summit of the country's highest mountain, also called Aoraki/Mount Cook, in the S ...

Albury Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...

Burkes Pass Burkes Pass is a mountain pass and at its base, a small town on State Highway 8 at the entrance to the Mackenzie Country in South Canterbury, New Zealand. It is named after Michael John Burke (1812 Co. Galway-1869 Melbourne) a graduate of Du ...

Geographical features

Rivers: *

Mackenzie Basin The Mackenzie Basin (), popularly and traditionally known as the Mackenzie Country, is an elliptical intermontane basin located in the Mackenzie and Waitaki Districts, near the centre of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the largest su ...

* Mackenzie River *

Tekapo River The Tekapo River flows occasionally through the Mackenzie Basin, Canterbury, in New Zealand's South Island, although the riverbed is now often dry in the upper reaches. It maintains a constant flow below the confluence of several tributaries, no ...

* Pukaki River * Grays River Mountains: *

Aoraki / Mount Cook Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. Its height, as of 2014, is listed as . It sits in the Southern Alps, the mountain range that runs the length of the South Island. A popular tourist destination, it is also a favourite ...

Lakes: *

Lake Tekapo __NOTOC__ Lake Tekapo ( mi, Takapō) is the second-largest of three roughly parallel lakes running north–south along the northern edge of the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island of New Zealand (the others are Lake Pukaki and Lake Ohau). ...

and the 'Church of the Good Shepherd'. *

Lake Pukaki Lake Pukaki is the largest of three roughly parallel alpine lakes running north–south along the northern edge of the Mackenzie Basin on New Zealand's South Island. The others are Lakes Lake Tekapo, Tekapo and Lake Ohau, New Zealand, Ohau. All t ...

Lake Ruataniwha Lake Ruataniwha is an artificial lake in the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island of New Zealand. It was formed in 1977–1981 as part of the Waitaki hydroelectric project. It lies on the traditional boundary of the Canterbury and Otago provinces, ...

, one of New Zealand's main

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...

venues *

Lake Ōhau Lake Ōhau is a lake in the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island of New Zealand. The Hopkins and Dobson rivers fed into the northern end of Lake Ōhau. These rivers have their headwaters in the Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana. The lake' ...

Glaciers: *

Tasman Glacier Haupapa / Tasman Glacier is the largest glacier in New Zealand, and one of several large glaciers which flow south and east towards the Mackenzie Basin from the Southern Alps in New Zealand's South Island. Geography At in length, Tasman Glaci ...

* Hooker Glacier Skifields: *

Fox Peak Fox Peak is a small club skifield located to the east of Lake Tekapo in New Zealand's South Island. Run by a non-profit organisation, the resort features four ski tows and a total vertical range of . The original name for the mountain was Rowley ...

* Mt Dobson * Round Hill *Tasman Glacier Heliski National parks: *

Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park is in the South Island of New Zealand. Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain, and the eponymous village lie within the park. The area was gazetted as a national park in October 1953 and consists ...

Climate

The Mackenzie District has a dry temperate-continental climate with clear, crisp snowy winters and long, hot summers. Autumn is known for being a riot of colour, while spring brings wildflowers blooming throughout the region, including

lupins ''Lupinus'', commonly known as lupin, lupine, or regionally bluebonnet etc., is a genus of plants in the legume family Fabaceae. The genus includes over 199 species, with centers of diversity in North and South America. Smaller centers occur ...

. The warm summer season is from November to February, with temperatures often passing 30 degrees. In the cooler winter season, from June to September, temperatures drop to below 0 degrees Celsius overnight, while sunny winter days average around 8 degrees and regular snowfall.

History

The

MacKenzie Basin The Mackenzie Basin (), popularly and traditionally known as the Mackenzie Country, is an elliptical intermontane basin located in the Mackenzie and Waitaki Districts, near the centre of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the largest su ...

was named in the 1850s by and after James Mckenzie, a Scottish-origin shepherd and sheep thief, and the name transferred to the modern district.

Demographics

Mackenzie District covers a land area of and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Mackenzie District had a population of 4,866 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 708 people (17.0%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 1,065 people (28.0%) 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 1,863 households. There were 2,511 males and 2,352 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.07 males per female. The median age was 40.6 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 801 people (16.5%) aged under 15 years, 978 (20.1%) aged 15 to 29, 2,274 (46.7%) aged 30 to 64, and 810 (16.6%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 86.4% European/Pākehā, 6.8% Māori, 1.2% Pacific peoples, 8.9% Asian, and 3.4% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 24.5, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people objected to giving their religion, 51.7% had no religion, 37.1% were Christian, 1.1% were Hindu, 0.2% were Muslim, 1.2% were Buddhist and 1.5% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 777 (19.1%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 702 (17.3%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $33,400, compared with $31,800 nationally. 555 people (13.7%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 2,451 (60.3%) people were employed full-time, 660 (16.2%) were part-time, and 30 (0.7%) were unemployed.

Economy

In 2012, the Mackenzie District had 850 businesses who employed 1900 full time equivalent staff and generated $190 million dollars in revenue. The economy is based on hydroelectric generation, farming (including aquaculture) and tourism. Of the 267 farms in the Mackenzie District in 2012, 34% of these were sheep farms, 18% sheep and beef cattle, and 15% beef cattle. Minimal amounts of crop farming occurs in the Mackenzie District with small amounts of barley (7,733 tonnes) and oats (2,265 tonnes) grown. A relatively sparsely settled area, the district does have a wide number of farms. However, in the late 2000s, numerous proposals for new farming operations have locals fearing that the agriculture will be transformed from often family-held farms to large agribusiness operations, causing increased local ecologic damage and siphoning off capital overseas.

List of mayors

References

External links

Mackenzie District Council

Mackenzie area history
{{Cities and districts of New Zealand