The Silver Stream (sometimes written Silverstream) is a small river flowing close to the town of

Mosgiel Mosgiel ( Māori: ''Te Konika o te Matamata'') is an urban satellite of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand, fifteen kilometres west of the city's centre. Since the re-organisation of New Zealand local government in 1989 it has been inside the Dunedi ...

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 ...

, New Zealand. The Silver Stream, known in Māori as Whakaehu,
Place names
'' on Kāti Huirapa Runaka ki Puketeraki website, viewed 2012-01-04 rises in the Silverpeaks hills north 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 ...

, on the southern slope of Silver Peak itself, and flows initially southwards through a steep-sided forested valley which widens to become Whare Flat, before turning west at the eastern edge of the

Taieri Plains The Taieri Plain (also referred to in the plural as the Taieri Plains) is an area of fertile agricultural land to the southwest of Dunedin, in Otago, New Zealand. The plain covers an area of some 300 square kilometres, with a maximum extent of 3 ...

at the foot of Three Mile Hill, close to Invermay Research Station. It continues in a southwesterly direction past the northern edge of Mosgiel, reaching 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 sout ...

two kilometres north of Allanton. Its total length is about . Silver Stream is the site of a historic water race. The Silver Stream Water Race was built between 1877 and 1881, and consisted of nearly of open races, sluices, tunnels, and weirs. The race began at a weir high on the river and traversed the sides of

Swampy Summit Swampy Summit is a prominent hill to the north of Dunedin, New Zealand. It reaches a height of . The hill's eastern slopes forms the western side of Leith Valley, the other side of which consists of the flank of Mount Cargill. The Leith Saddle ...

and Flagstaff before emptying into a reservoir in

Kaikorai Valley Kaikorai Valley is a long broad valley which runs through the west of the New Zealand city of Dunedin, to the west of the city centre. It is the valley of a small stream, the Kaikorai Stream, which runs from northeast to southwest down the ...

. Despite efforts to improve the race with the installation of a pump in 1920, it was not successful; problems with subsidence led to much of the race being enclosed in pipe, and the race was finally abandoned in the 1960s.The Silver Stream Water Race Tracks
, ''Dunedin City Council''. Retrieved 3 July 2018. The river's flow is generally small (at below one cumec), but it has a history of flooding. This has been largely remedied by the artificial raising of its banks, especially close to Mosgiel. In mid-2006, after heavy rain, the Silver Stream flooded at some points, but did not flood on the part of the bank running close to the town. Several walking routes are located close to or in the valley of the Silver Stream, most of which are aimed at more experienced trampers.Silverstream walks
, ''Dunedin City Council''. Retrieved 3 July 2018. Silverstream School and Silverstream Drive in Mosgiel are named for the river.

References

{{Taieri Rivers of Otago Mosgiel Rivers of New Zealand Taieri River