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Where is it?
Selwyn District is in the South Island of New Zealand. It is 649,000 hectares
in area and is bounded north and south by the mountain-fed
Waimakariri and
Rakaia rivers. The district extends 150 kilometres west from the edge of
Christchurch City to the snow-capped crests
of the Southern Alps and
Arthur's Pass National Park.
Selwyn District is named after
the Selwyn River, which, in turn, is
named after Bishop Selwyn, one of the first Europeans to walk through the area
in the mid 1840s. The district's current boundaries date from 1989 when three adjacent counties,
Ellesmere, Malvern and half of Paparua, were fused into a single district.
These counties had once been part of a larger Selwyn County.
The first people to live here were the Maori
settlers who came from subtropical Pacific Islands about 700 years ago. Today,
most people in the district are of European extraction, with 6 percent
identifying themselves as Maori in the
5-yearly Census.
The dominant tribe in Selwyn and most of the South
Island is Ngai
Tahu, whose ancestors invaded from the North Island about 300 years ago.
They conquered and inter-married with the pre-existing tribes:
the Ngati Mamoe, who had arrived from the north about 100 years earlier, and the
Waitaha who had preceded them. Little is known of the very early groups that
preceded Waitaha other than a few names recorded in the conquering tribes' oral
traditions.
Ngai Tahu has 18 runanga (tribal assemblies) in
the South Island.
One of these is based in the Selwyn District at the Ngati-Moki marae (meeting place) in Taumutu near the mouth of
Lake Ellesmere (Te Waihora).
Steep glacial mountains cover the western half of the district, rolling
foothills occupy the middle and a broad plain with a patchwork of farms and
small towns covers the east. Some of the mountain area is protected in
Arthur’s Pass National Park. Much of the remainder is high tussock land that
is used for sheep grazing or is under the protection of the
Department of
Conservation. Nestled among the mountains are many ski-fields -
more than in any other district – while down in the foothills and plains,
nestled among the farms and small towns, there is an abundance of golf courses and bowling greens.
Selwyn has no large towns or cities. It also has one of the lowest crime rates
in New Zealand. About 45 percent of the population live in small towns and
settlements, while the remainder live on farms and rural lifestyle blocks. Most
people live on the plains within a short drive of Christchurch. Only 5 percent live in the
hills and mountains. Most communities have local
committees that liaise with the ward boards and the council on local issues
and facilities.
Since 1990, Selwyn District has had unprecedented
population growth (currently averaging 3.7% per year) as people
have moved here from nearby Christchurch City in search of more
peaceful and spacious surroundings. In June 2006, Statistics New Zealand
put the district's population at 35,000, a 25% increase on the 28,000 living
here in 2001. This makes Selwyn the second-fastest
growing territorial authority in New Zealand after Queenstown.
All the district's towns and
rural communities have shown some growth, but the greatest growth is in the
"commuter belt" within 20 kilometres of Christchurch city. Rolleston is the
largest of these new growth areas, having expanded from a small railway village
of less than 1,000 ten years ago to a bustling town of more than 5,000 today.
Other fast growing towns are Lincoln and Prebbleton, and also the villages of
Springston and West Melton.
With more young families than the national average, the district has
22 primary schools
whose average roll size in mid-2007 was 150, ranging from Rolleston, with 460,
to tiny Greenpark, with 25. The district also has three
secondary schools, Darfield High
(707 students),
Lincoln High (1,324 students) and Ellesmere
College (569 students) and one
university: Lincoln University.
Living close to Christchurch, nearly half the main income earners in the district
commute to the city for work. Just over a third of the workforce is employed
on farms, a third in office and sales positions and just under a third in
professional and technical occupations. The council has created an Industrial
Park at Rolleston, which is growing rapidly and providing jobs for local
residents.
Science
Some of the district’s professional
and technical workers are employed in the scientific “hothouse” of Lincoln
township which hosts a cluster of research organisations, including Lincoln
University. Collectively they are known as the Lincoln Resource.
Selwyn is drier and sunnier than most parts of New Zealand.
Summers have generally been getting hotter and drier and winters are
becoming more
mild, with fewer frosts and less rain. This has encouraged a move toward
more Mediterranean-style crops in parts of Selwyn, and
a blossoming wine and restaurant
industry.
Most of the district’s farmland is used for animal production
- sheep and beef in the less fertile areas, intensive dairy and deer in the
wetter areas.
Since the mid-1980s, when dry weather and the removal of government
subsidies changed the economics of farming, there has been a fall in sheep
numbers (to just over 1 million), and a rise in dairy cows (105,000),
beef cattle (54,000), deer (45,000) and pigs (64,000). The district has more pigs than any other district,
including 17 pig
factory farms. There is also a thriving poultry industry, with at least 25 chicken factory
farms holding 1,834,000 birds. The district also has 3,900 horses and a
number of prominent horse breeders and trainers.
Selwyn District is a major cereal growing area, producing large amounts of
wheat (37,000 tonnes) and barley (53,000 tonnes). Other prominent crops
include oats, peas, green beans, potatoes, asparagus, broccoli, carrots, onions,
black currants, chestnuts and walnuts. The district also has pine timber
plantations, fruit orchards, vineyards and flowers. And, somewhere
between plants and animals, the district also produces honey and cultivated
mushrooms.
Tourism is a growing industry with everything on offer for visitors
from walks, nature rambles
and adventure sports to golf, fishing, scenic drives and rural hideaways –
all against a backdrop of wonderful scenery.
Like many other New Zealand districts, Selwyn has a nuclear free policy
- which makes it an ideal place for the New Zealand Army to have a base.
Burnham Military Camp is the home of No3 Land Force Group, comprising some 1,200
on-site personnel, which includes:
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2nd/1st Battalion RNZ Infantry Regiment
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3rd Signals Squadron
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3rd Logistics Battalion
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3rd Field Ambulance
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Army Band
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3rd Regional Training Units
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Services Corrective Establishment
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Territorial Unit
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