Parnassus is a locality in the

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a 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. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

region's Hurunui District on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is located on the north bank of the Waiau River. It takes its name from a local sheep run owned by a classical scholar, Edward Lee. He saw a likeness between a local hill and the Greek

Mount Parnassus Mount Parnassus (; el, Παρνασσός, ''Parnassós'') is a mountain range of central Greece that is and historically has been especially valuable to the Greek nation and the earlier Greek city-states for many reasons. In peace, it offers ...

, mythical home of the god Apollo and the Muses.Te Ara The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Cheviot district

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 the town on its route from Cheviot to Kaikoura, and the Main North Line

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

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 Picton also runs through the town. At one stage, the

Waiau Branch The Waiau Branch was a branch line railway in the northern Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. Known as the Great Northern Railway for its first few decades of life, the Waiau Branch was seen as part of a main line north but was ...

was intended to be the main line north and 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 ...

diverged from the Waiau route in

Waipara Waipara is a small town in north Canterbury, New Zealand, on the banks of the Waipara River. Its name translates to "Muddy Water", ''wai'' meaning water and ''para'' meaning mud. It is at the junction of state highways 1 and 7, 60 kilometre ...

to service coastal communities. This line was opened to Parnassus in 1912 and was known as the Parnassus Branch at that stage. However, the decision was made to use the Parnassus route as the main line, relegating the route from Waipara through the Weka Pass to Waiau to the status of branch line. The Main North Line was completed in 1945 and continues to serve Parnassus today. The epicentre of the

1901 Cheviot earthquake The 1901 Cheviot earthquake occurred at 07:47 NZT on 16 November 1901 (20:15 15 November UTC) with an estimated magnitude of 6.9, centred near the township of Cheviot in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. Damage and casualties A baby was ...

was at Parnassus.

Demographics

The Parnassus statistical area, which includes Cheviot, covers . It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Parnassus had a population of 1,323 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 15 people (1.1%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 51 people (4.0%) 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 546 households. There were 657 males and 666 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.99 males per female. The median age was 47 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 273 people (20.6%) aged under 15 years, 153 (11.6%) aged 15 to 29, 612 (46.3%) aged 30 to 64, and 285 (21.5%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 93.9% European/Pākehā, 11.8% Māori, 1.6% Pacific peoples, 1.1% 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 10.2%, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people objected to giving their religion, 53.7% had no religion, 34.9% were Christian, 0.2% were Hindu, 0.2% were Muslim, 0.2% were Buddhist and 1.6% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 156 (14.9%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 219 (20.9%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $27,600, compared with $31,800 nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 504 (48.0%) people were employed full-time, 222 (21.1%) were part-time, and 18 (1.7%) were unemployed.

References

External links

{{Hurunui District Populated places in Canterbury, New Zealand Hurunui District