Timaru

Timaru is a port city in the southern Canterbury region of New Zealand, southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin, on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The urban area's population of people is the largest in South Canterbury, and the third-largest in the Canterbury Region overall, after Christchurch and Rolleston. The town is the seat of the Timaru District, which includes the surrounding rural area and the towns of Geraldine, Pleasant Point and Temuka, which combined have a total population of.
Caroline Bay beach is a popular recreational area close to Timaru's main centre, just to the north of the substantial port facilities. Beyond Caroline Bay, the industrial suburb of Washdyke is at a major junction with State Highway 8, the main route into the Mackenzie Country. This provides a road link to Pleasant Point, Fairlie, Twizel, Lake Tekapo, Aoraki / Mount Cook and Queenstown.
Timaru is built on rolling hills created from lava flows of the extinct Mt Horrible volcano, which last erupted thousands of years ago. The result is that most of the main streets are undulating, a clear contrast with the flat landscape of the Canterbury Plains to the north. The volcanic rock is used in the construction of local bluestone buildings.

History

Māori settlement

The origin of the name 'Timaru' is disputed. Some believe that it derives from Māori Te Maru, which can mean a 'place of shelter'. However, other authorities allege that Timaru originates from a literal translation of the combination of tī, a cabbage tree and maru, meaning 'shady'.
Māori waka seem to have employed the site of Timaru as a place to rest on journeys up and down the eastern coastline for many years before the arrival of the first Europeans in the 19th century. The area includes over 500 sites with traces of Māori rock art, particularly in the rock overhangs and caves of the Opuha and Ōpihi River valleys, to the west of modern-day Timaru. Archaeologists have suggested that Māori iwi were permanently settled in the district before 1400 AD. During the 17th or 18th century the resident Ngāti Mamoe were driven southwards into Fiordland by an invasion of the Ngāi Tahu, who came from the North Island.
Te Runanga o Arowhenua is the hapū for Aoraki. Their marae is located just outside Temuka.

19th century onwards

European settlement began with the construction of a whaling station in 1839 by the Weller brothers of Otago at Patiti Point, close to the present town centre. A supply ship, The Caroline, provided the name for a local bay. Later a sheep station, known as The Levels, was set up on land obtained by the Rhodes brothers, and run by George Rhodes. One of the earliest settlers was Captain Henry Cain, who set up a store in 1857 on behalf of Henry Le Cren of Lyttelton, and Le Cren himself moved to Timaru in the following year.
Few lived in Timaru until 14 January 1859 when the sailing ship Strathallan arrived from London, carrying a party of 111, 107, or, as a 1958 account said, about 120 immigrants. Persistent land disputes arose between the Rhodes brothers and local government officials with the result that two townships were established in the port area, Government Town and Rhodestown. These eventually merged into a single community in 1868. Given this division, until recently none of the main north-south streets lined up. Stafford Street, which became the main thoroughfare, was formed along the early bullock wagon trail.
Following the loss of a number of vessels off the coast, the breakwater design by Engineer John Goodall was adopted and work started on the redevelopment of the artificial port in 1877, which eventually caused sand washed south down the Pacific shoreline to build up against the northern mole. This was the beginning of the extensive land reclamation around the Caroline Bay district, an area which is still growing today.
Timaru continued to expand during the 20th century, with much of the development taking the form of wooden colonial style bungalows set in individual sections of land. Sacred Heart Basilica was opened in 1911.

Geography

Timaru is situated along the Pacific Ocean coast. Much of the hinterland is farmland. To the north and northeast are the Canterbury Plains.

Suburbs

Washdyke
Smithfield
Grantlea
Waimataitai
Marchwiel
Timaru Central
Maori Hill
Highfield
Glenwood
Gleniti
Seaview
West End
Watlington
Parkside
Kensington
Redruth
Oceanview
Port Timaru
Climate

Timaru has a relatively dry temperate climate similar to that of neighbouring Ashburton and Christchurch, classified as an oceanic climate by Köppen-Geiger climate classification system. Temperatures are warm in summer and cool in winter, with Timaru's extreme maximum temperature being on 6 February 2011 and the extreme minimum on 3 August 1998. Rain is evenly distributed throughout the year, with a very small proportion of it falling as snow.

Demographics

The Timaru urban area is defined by Statistics New Zealand as a medium urban area. It covers and incorporates sixteen statistical areas. It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km².
Timaru had a population of 27,498 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 1,236 people since the 2013 census, and an increase of 1,380 people since the 2006 census. There were 11,502 households, comprising 13,368 males and 14,133 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.95 males per female, with 4,758 people aged under 15 years, 4,893 aged 15 to 29, 11,709 aged 30 to 64, and 6,147 aged 65 or older.
Ethnicities were 89.2% European/Pākehā, 9.3% Māori, 2.4% Pasifika, 5.2% Asian, and 1.8% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.
The percentage of people born overseas was 13.8, compared with 27.1% nationally.
Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 47.8% had no religion, 40.9% were Christian, 0.3% had Māori religious beliefs, 0.9% were Hindu, 0.3% were Muslim, 0.3% were Buddhist and 1.8% had other religions.
Of those at least 15 years old, 2,892 people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 5,742 people had no formal qualifications. 2,979 people earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 10,791 people were employed full-time, 3,264 were part-time, and 648 were unemployed.

Name	Area	Population	Density	Households	Median age	Median income
Fraser Park	1.22	2,751	2,255	1,179	43.1 years	$30,500
Gleniti North	5.46	1,491	273	603	50.4 years	$39,600
Gleniti South	1.74	2,433	1,398	951	50.8 years	$29,900
Glenwood	1.05	1,788	1,703	723	42.5 years	$27,800
Highfield North	1.41	2,358	1,672	963	51.1 years	$28,400
Highfield South	0.95	1,251	1,317	510	40.8 years	$30,400
Kensington	0.73	1,464	2,005	642	39.2 years	$27,900
Marchwiel East	0.93	1,980	2,129	735	37.4 years	$25,200
Marchwiel West	0.84	1,527	1,818	648	39.7 years	$26,800
Parkside	1.15	2,376	2,066	1,053	40.7 years	$27,400
Seaview	0.73	2,088	2,860	969	41.6 years	$28,300
Timaru Central	0.82	405	494	171	37.4 years	$27,500
Timaru East	3.60	273	76	123	40.1 years	$27,400
Waimataitai-Maori Hill	1.50	2,043	1,362	912	45.8 years	$30,800
Washdyke	10.66	1,017	95	411	44.6 years	$32,300
Watlington	1.21	2,253	1,862	909	39.8 years	$30,300
New Zealand					37.4 years	$31,800

Government

The mayor of Timaru District is Nigel Bowen.
Timaru is part of the parliamentary electorate of Rangitata, represented by James Meager of the New Zealand National Party. Jo Luxton is a local list MP in the electorate from the New Zealand Labour Party.

Sister cities

Timaru District has established four sister city relationships.

Orange, New South Wales, Australia
Weihai, Shandong, China
Eniwa, Hokkaidō, Japan
Orange, California, United States of America
Economy

Timaru is an agricultural service town and port for the South Canterbury regional economy. Timaru is one of the major cargo ports of the South Island, with a number of light manufacturing plants associated with the export and import trade. Many of these producers are concerned with processing, packing, and distributing meat, dairy and other agricultural produce.
Timaru is the second largest fishing port in New Zealand.
Allan Hubbard the chartered accountant and philanthropist established the failed finance company South Canterbury Finance and accounting firm Hubbard Churcher in Timaru and lived locally until his death in a car accident on 2 September 2011.
In late September 2024, the Alliance Group proposed closing down its Smithfield meatworks plant, which would affect about 600 jobs. Following consultation, the Alliance Group confirmed in mid-October 2024 that it would close down its Smithfield meat processing plant in December 2024, citing declining sheep processing numbers caused by land-use changes.