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Athol, New Zealand

Field	Value
name	Athol
pushpin_map	New Zealand
coordinates
image_skyline	Athol_from_McKnight's_Hill,March_2014.jpg
image_caption	Athol – March 2014
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name	New Zealand
subdivision_type1	Island
subdivision_name1	South Island
subdivision_type2	Region
subdivision_name2	Southland region
subdivision_type3	Territorial authority
subdivision_name3	Southland District
population_as_of	2006
population_total	87
timezone	NZST
utc_offset	+12
timezone_DST	NZDT
utc_offset_DST	+13
postal_code_type	Postcode(s)
postal_code	9749
area_code	03
blank_name	Local iwi
blank_info	Ngāi Tahu

Athol is a small town in Southland, New Zealand. It is located on , 55 km south of Queenstown, halfway between Lumsden and Kingston on the Southern Scenic Route. Farming has always been very important in the district, though in earlier times gold mining, centred on nearby Nokomai, was also significant. In recent decades tourist numbers have grown. The Mataura River is well known for the quality of its brown trout fishing, and the Around the Mountains Cycle Trail, opened in November 2014, has further boosted visitor figures.

Name

There is some uncertainty over how Athol received its name. The first record of it is when the township was surveyed in 1863. Several suggestions have been made. One is that it was named after Harry Athol, the proprietor of the first hotel. There is no early record of a person of this name and there may be a confusion with Harry Arthur, who ran the Athol accommodation house in the 1860s. Another is that it was named after the home district in Scotland of early landowner W. B. Rogers. As Rogers was born in New Zealand and his father came from Cumberland, England, this is not likely to be the case.

It seems probable it was named after Atholl in Perthshire, Scotland and this might be because the Superintendent of Southland Province at the time of the survey, Dr. James Menzies, came from there.

Geography

Athol is 275 m above sea level. It lies on a small plain surrounded by mountains, including the Mid Dome (1478 m) to the south and Flagstaff (1037 m) to the east.

To the west of the township flow the Eyre Creek and smaller Quoich Creek, and these join the Mataura River about 2 km to the south.

Notable people

Patrick Caples ( – 1904, explorer and gold prospector, who mined on Paddy's Alley in the mid 1860s
Adam Hamilton (1880–1952), first leader of the New Zealand National Party, was the Presbyterian home missionary in Athol in 1910
Ack Soper (1936–2020), New Zealand rugby union player

References

{{ReedPlacenames1975
Southland News, 30 November 1867
Beattie, Herries (1979) ''The Southern Runs'', Invercargill: Southland Times Co., p. 76
(10 August 1864). "New Rush at the Mataura Bend". Lake Wakatip Mail.
"Hadfield to Hart".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

populated-places-in-the-southland-region

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