Waiau, Canterbury

History

Waiau is the largest town on State Highway 70, also known as the Inland Kaikōura Route. From 1919 until 1978, Waiau was the terminus of the Waiau Branch, a branch line railway that ran to the town from a junction with the Main North Line in Waipara. There were proposals to extend this line beyond Waiau as part of the Main North Line and some 3 km of formation was made for a route to Kaikōura, but construction ground to a halt and a coastal route via Parnassus and Hundalee was chosen for the Main North Line instead.

Waiau had at one stage three churches: a Presbyterian church, an Anglican church and a Catholic church. The Catholic Parish of the Good Shepard was opened in 1900 and has seating for 100.

Waiau was heavily impacted by the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake as the epicentre was 15 kilometres (9 mi) north-east of Culverden making it more like the Waiau earthquake. Buildings damaged by the earthquake include many homes, the Waiau Lodge Hotel, historic cottage, bowling green, church, netball courts and swimming pool. A historic woolshed at Highfield just north of Waiau, built in 1877, which was significantly damaged in the earthquake has been restored and has retained its Heritage New Zealand Category 1 status.

Waiau shares its name with several much smaller settlements and farming communities within New Zealand. The name is Māori, and means flowing water.

Demographics

Waiau is defined by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement and covers 0.97 km2. It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. Waiau is part of the larger Amuri statistical area.

Waiau had a population of 255 at the 2018 New Zealand census, a decrease of 3 people (−1.2%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 3 people (1.2%) since the 2006 census. There were 99 households, comprising 126 males and 123 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.02 males per female, with 51 people (20.0%) aged under 15 years, 27 (10.6%) aged 15 to 29, 123 (48.2%) aged 30 to 64, and 48 (18.8%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 88.2% European/Pākehā, 21.2% Māori, 2.4% Pasifika, and 1.2% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.

Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 67.1% had no religion, 24.7% were Christian, 1.2% had Māori religious beliefs, 1.2% were Hindu and 1.2% had other religions.

Of those at least 15 years old, 12 (5.9%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 75 (36.8%) people had no formal qualifications. 15 people (7.4%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 99 (48.5%) people were employed full-time, 36 (17.6%) were part-time, and 9 (4.4%) were unemployed.

Education

Waiau School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 6 students, with a roll of as of .

Swimming Pool

The Waiau Community Pool was built in 2019. The complex includes a 25 metre swimming pool and a smaller toddlers pool. The previous pool in use was destroyed in the 2016 earthquake.

Waiau Lodge Hotel

Main article: Waiau Lodge Hotel

The Waiau Lodge Hotel was built in 1910. It originally had ten bedrooms for guests. The hotel was known as the "Grand Lady". Frederick O'Malley was the first publican to run the Waiau Lodge Hotel. He sold the hotel in 1913 to Arthur Johnstone. There have been a further 21 owners. The hotel was badly damaged in the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake. All three of the hotel's chimneys had crashed through the roof causing extensive damage. A temporary pub called the Waiau Tavern was set up in the car park for the town's residents and opened six months later. In May 2021, the Waiau Lodge Hotel was destroyed by a fire. Approximately thirty firefighters attempted to put out the fire which started late at night.

Climate

The mean yearly highest and lowest temperatures for Waiau from 2008–2024 was 34.8 °C and -5.8 °C respectively.

| Jan record high C = 37.8 | Feb record high C = 36.5 | Mar record high C = 33.2 | Apr record high C = 29.3 | May record high C = 27.1 | Jun record high C = 23.8 | Jul record high C = 21.8 | Aug record high C = 24.0 | Sep record high C = 26.1 | Oct record high C = 30.3 | Nov record high C = 32.9 | Dec record high C = 34.7 | year record high C = 37.8 |Jan record low C = 0.6 |Feb record low C = 0.0 |Mar record low C = -0.9 |Apr record low C = -4.0 |May record low C = -7.4 |Jun record low C = -8.8 |Jul record low C = -7.9 |Aug record low C = -6.6 |Sep record low C = -4.4 |Oct record low C = -3.5 |Nov record low C = -1.5 |Dec record low C = -2.5 |year record low C = -8.8 |access-date = 19 May 2024}}{{cite web |access-date = 20 Jul 2024 }}

References

References

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2. "Church Services {{!}} Church Services".
3. (2017-11-10). "November 14 earthquake epicentre: Waiau's slow road to recovery".
4. (2017-03-10). "Residents in caravans for the winter, social life disrupted and hard times for farmers in Waiau".
5. O’Sullivan, A.. (2024). "Woolsheds: the historic shearing sheds of Aotearoa New Zealand.". Massey University Press.
6. {{NZHPT. 3668. Highfield Woolshed. 30 January 2025
7. (6 August 2019). "1000 Māori place names". New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
8. "ArcGIS Web Application".
9. {{NZ census place summary 2018. amuri. Amuri
10. {{NZ census 2018. 7023840 and 7023841
11. "Waiau School Official School Website".
12. "Waiau School Ministry of Education School Profile". [[Ministry of Education (New Zealand).
13. "Waiau School Education Review Office Report". [[Education Review Office]].
14. "Waiau Community Pool {{!}} Waiau Community Pool".
15. (2021-05-22). "'It was a big part of this town': Historic Canterbury hotel burns down".
16. (2016-12-10). "Memories of the "dare devil" publican of Waiau".
17. (2016-11-14). "North Canterbury's historic Waiau pub gutted".
18. (2016-12-01). "Earthquake damaged Waiau Lodge Hotel to get temporary bar for Christmas".
19. (2017-05-10). "Post-earthquake Waiau no longer dry as new tavern replaces damaged hotel".
20. (2021-05-22). "'It was a big part of this town': Historic Canterbury hotel burns down".
21. "CliFlo -The National Climate Database (Agent number: 36157)". NIWA.