Roxburgh, New Zealand
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Roxburgh (previously called Teviot and Teviot Junction) is a small New Zealand town of about 600 people in
Central Otago Central Otago is an area 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 ...
. It is in Teviot Valley on the banks 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 ...
, south of
Alexandra Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymology, Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; genitive, GEN , ; ...
in the
South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...
. State Highway 8, which links Central Otago with
Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...
city, passes through the town. Roxburgh is well known for its Summer fruit and " Jimmy's Pies." An important centre during the
Otago gold rush The Otago gold rush (often called the Central Otago gold rush) was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand. This was the country's biggest gold strike, and led to a rapid influx of foreign miners to the area ...
of the 1860s, in more recent times Roxburgh has relied on a mixture of livestock and
stone fruit In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...
production for its economic survival. It is one of the country's most important
apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
growing regions and other stone fruit such as
cherries A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The name ...
and
apricots An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus ''Prunus''. Usually an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are also ...
are also harvested locally. Five kilometres to the north of the town is the
Roxburgh Dam The Roxburgh Dam is the earliest of the large hydroelectric projects in the lower half of the South Island of New Zealand. It lies across the Clutha River / Mata-Au, some from Dunedin, some to the north of the town of Roxburgh. The settlement o ...
, the earliest of the major
hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...
dams built on the Clutha. There is also an opencast
lignite Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered the lowest ...
mine located just north of town at Coal Creek.


History

The town was called Teviot, and from 1863 to 1866 Teviot Junction, but this name is instead now used for places such as the Teviot Valley and the Teviot River. The name Roxburgh was adopted on 18 April 1877. The name of the town comes from
Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh () is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the northwest, and Berwickshire to the north. T ...
in Scotland and was after the first European settlers arrived in the area. From 1928 until 1968, Roxburgh was served by the
Roxburgh Branch The Roxburgh Branch was a branch line railway built in the Otago region of New Zealand's South Island that formed part of the country's national rail network. Originally known as the Lawrence Branch, it was one of the longest construction pr ...
, a
branch line A branch line is 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. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...
railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
that ran to the town from the
Main South Line The Main South Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, is a railway line that runs north and south from Lyttelton, New Zealand, Lyttelton in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the ...
. The railway never actually reached the town itself as the terminus was located about 2 km south of Roxburgh at the small settlement known as Hercules Flat. For the entire period the line served Roxburgh, it made a working loss, but it helped to promote economic development in the town and was an important means of supplying materials for the Roxburgh Dam. Today, relics of the town's former status as a railway terminus still exist, including a
turntable A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding phys ...
pit, a
water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...
for
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...
s, and the station building has been converted into a hayshed and workshop. Most of the houses which once housed railway workers (also known as "Railway Houses") still stand and are now in private ownership. The Roxburgh War Memorial was unveiled on 24 May 1923. It is a square obelisk and lists the names of the 42 men from the town and local region who died in both World War One and Two. When unveiled it included mounted on a plinth, a German Rheinmetall
17 cm mittlerer Minenwerfer The 17 cm mittlerer ''Minenwerfer'' (17 cm mMW) was a mortar used by Germany in World War I. Development and use The weapon was developed for use by engineer troops after the Siege of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, ...
and a Maxim MG 08 Heavy Machine gun which was mounted on a tripod. The Mortar was captured by the 12th Company ( Nelson ) 2nd Canterbury Infantry Battalion on 2 August 1918, and returned to New Zealand as a war trophy. The Maxim Gun was stolen some time during the 1970s and the mortar was relocated on 16 March 2003 when a new Memorial Plaque was placed outside the Council Building & Returned Services Association club-rooms. Town scenes from the 2004 film '' In My Father's Den'' were filmed in Roxburgh.


Demographics

Roxburgh is described by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement. It covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. It is part of the much larger Teviot Valley statistical area. Before the 2023 census, Roxburgh had a smaller boundary, covering . Using that boundary, Roxburgh had a population of 588 at the
2018 New Zealand census The 2018 New Zealand census, which took place on Tuesday 6 March 2018, was the thirty-fourth national census in New Zealand. The population of New Zealand was counted as 4,699,755 – an increase of 457,707 (10.79%) over the 2013 census. Resu ...
, an increase of 60 people (11.4%) since the 2013 census, and a decrease of 18 people (−3.0%) since the 2006 census. There were 279 households, comprising 267 males and 324 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.82 males per female, with 84 people (14.3%) aged under 15 years, 60 (10.2%) aged 15 to 29, 255 (43.4%) aged 30 to 64, and 189 (32.1%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 86.7% European/
Pākehā ''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...
, 14.8%
Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
, 5.6% Pasifika, 4.6% Asian, and 1.5% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 44.9% had no religion, 44.4% were
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
, 0.5% were
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
, 0.5% were
Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
and 1.5% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 63 (12.5%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 150 (29.8%) people had no formal qualifications. 30 people (6.0%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 222 (44.0%) people were employed full-time, 69 (13.7%) were part-time, and 3 (0.6%) were unemployed.


Teviot Valley

Teviot Valley statistical area covers and also includes Lake Roxburgh village, Millers Flat and Ettrick. It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. Teviot Valley had a population of 1,779 at the
2018 New Zealand census The 2018 New Zealand census, which took place on Tuesday 6 March 2018, was the thirty-fourth national census in New Zealand. The population of New Zealand was counted as 4,699,755 – an increase of 457,707 (10.79%) over the 2013 census. Resu ...
, an increase of 216 people (13.8%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 96 people (5.7%) since the 2006 census. There were 750 households, comprising 930 males and 849 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.1 males per female. The median age was 50.0 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 249 people (14.0%) aged under 15 years, 240 (13.5%) aged 15 to 29, 840 (47.2%) aged 30 to 64, and 447 (25.1%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 87.0% European/
Pākehā ''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...
, 9.9%
Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
, 8.3% Pasifika, 2.2% Asian, and 1.5% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 17.0, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 48.1% had no religion, 42.2% were
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
, 0.2% had
Māori religious beliefs Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
, 0.3% were
Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
, 0.2% were
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
, 0.3% were
Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
and 1.2% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 165 (10.8%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 399 (26.1%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $25,800, compared with $31,800 nationally. 132 people (8.6%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 816 (53.3%) people were employed full-time, 231 (15.1%) were part-time, and 15 (1.0%) were unemployed.


Entertainment

Roxburgh had New Zealand's oldest operating
cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ** Filmmaking, the process of making a film * Movie theate ...
which opened 11 December 1897 on Scotland Street. The cinema seated 258 persons and was one of only four cinemas left in Central Otago. Live shows were also performed occasionally. The cinema was destroyed by fire in February 2025.


Education

Roxburgh Area School is a co-educational state area school for Year 1 to 13 students, with a roll of as of . Education in the Roxburgh area started in 1865. At Coal Creek Flat north of Roxburgh, a school was mentioned in 1877, another operated from 1884 to 1930, and a third opened in 1950 Roxburgh Hydro school flourished from the 1950s to the 1970s. Roxburgh District High School operated from 1926, and was renamed to Roxburgh Area School in 1976.


Climate


References


External links

{{Central Otago 1890s in New Zealand cinema Central Otago District Populated places in Otago