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Ruatapu, New Zealand

Town in West Coast Region, New Zealand

Summary

Town in West Coast Region, New Zealand

Field	Value
name	Ruatapu
image_skyline	Ruatapu, West Coast, New Zealand, 3 June 2008.jpg
image_caption	Ruatapu, with Lake Mahinapua shown in the foreground, and the Tasman Sea in the background.
population_as_of	2006
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name	New Zealand
subdivision_type1	Region
subdivision_name1	West Coast
subdivision_type2	District
subdivision_name2	Westland District
seat_type	Electorates
seat	West Coast-Tasman
Te Tai Tonga
timezone	NZST
utc_offset	+12
timezone_DST	NZDT
utc_offset_DST	+13
postal_code_type	Postcode
postal_code	7883
area_code	03
pushpin_map	New Zealand West Coast
coordinates
blank_name	Local iwi
blank_info	Ngāi Tahu

Te Tai Tonga Ruatapu is a small town in the Westland District in the West Coast region of the South Island of New Zealand. The town's name stems from Ruatapu, a figure in Māori mythology. The town is located on a narrow strip of land between the Tasman Sea and Lake Mahinapua, a shallow lake that was originally a coastal lagoon. runs through Ruatapu, connecting it to the nearby towns of Hokitika and Ross. The town's economy is based upon agriculture, as well as a large sawmill, operated by Westco Lagan, which mills radiata pine for further processing in Christchurch.

History

Railway

On 9 November 1906, the Midland railway line, running from Greymouth to Hokitika, extended a branch line to Ruatapu. Ruatapu acted as the terminus of the railway until 1 April 1909, when it was opened to Ross, and became known as the Ross Branch. Passenger services ceased on 9 October 1972 and the line closed to all traffic on 24 November 1980. Some of the track bed near Ruatapu can now be driven.

Sawmill and tramway

Joseph Butler bought 28000 acre of rimu, mataī, and kahikatea bush, between Ruatapu and Ross, for £28,000 in 1907. With his brother William, he formed Butler Brothers Ltd, with the Kauri Timber Co as a major shareholder. A large steam-powered sawmill worked from 1911. A large storm in October 1915 ripped the roof off the sawmill, demolished a hut, and shifted another house from its foundations. An electric-powered mill was built in 1955 after the original had burnt down in 1952 and was rebuilt again after another fire in the early 1980s.

Fletcher Holdings took over the mill in 1961, sold it to Henderson & Pollard Ltd in 1979 and they became part of Carter Holt Harvey in 1987. In 1988 the mill was sold to Westco Lagan Ltd.

Tramways ran up to 20 km south from the mill until replaced by logging trucks in 1960.

References

[http://www.westco.co.nz/company_profile.php?section=operations Operations] – Westco Lagan Limited. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
David Leitch and Brian Scott, ''Exploring New Zealand's Ghost Railways'', revised edition (Wellington: Grantham House, 1998 [1995]), 60-1.
Carter, Graeme. (Feb 2019). "The enterprising Butler brothers". NZ Railway Observer.
[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article73859340 STORM IN NEW ZEALAND TOWN.] – ''Warrnambool Standard''. Published 21 October 1915. Retrieved 18 June 2012.

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.

westland-district populated-places-in-the-west-coast-region

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