Mataura


Mataura is a town in the Southland region of the South Island of New Zealand. Mataura has a meat processing plant, and until 2000 it was the site of a large pulp and paper mill.

Geography

Mataura is situated on and the Main South Line railway, on the eastern fringe of the Southland Plain 13 kilometres south west of Gore and 53 kilometres north east of Invercargill. On the southern side of the town, diverges from SH 1 and runs westward through nearby communities such as Te Tipua and Waitane, ultimately terminating in Ohai. The town straddles the Mataura River which flows south through the town and is a source of brown trout. On the northern outskirts of the town the river falls over a bed of sandstone 6.1 metres high to create the Mataura Falls which is known by local Māori as Te Aunui.
The land rises to the Hokonui Hills 13 km to the north-west, while to the east is a series of hills.

History and culture

Pre-European settlement

While there was no permanent Māori settlement in the present day location of Mataura prior to the arrival of European settlers, the location was well known to local Maori for the harvest of lamprey in October of each year as they made their annual passage up the falls. The closest Māori settlement was the kaika of Tūtūrau, which was located near the east bank of the Mataura River downstream from the present town. In 1836 this village was the scene of the last act of Maori warfare in the South Island. A war party of approximately 70 members of the Ngāti Tama and Te Āti Awa tribes under the command of Te Pūoho-o-te-rangi, chief of the Ngāti Tama tribe and an ally and distant relative of Te Rauparaha attacked and occupied the village which was later retaken by the local Ngāi Tahu under the leadership of Hone Tūhawaiki and Te Matenga Taiaroa who had been at the Bluff when news of the war party's presence in the Southland came.

European settlement

In 1854 the Murihiku block of land was purchased from local Maori by the Otago Provincial Council, with the objective of developing it up for settlement by immigrants from Great Britain.
At the time, travellers between Southland and Otago were drawn to the Mataura area by the presence of the Tuturau ford located about 3.2 km downstream of the falls and the northern ford which was located approximately above the falls.
By 1856 the Otago Provincial Council had recognised that if development was to succeed a ferry had to be established at the falls to enable a direct overland transport between Dunedin and Invercargill. At the time the only alternative route was going by sea along the dangerous southern coast.
In 1859 the Otago Provincial Government built a wooden truss bridge which rested on a large rock in the middle of the falls and was suitable only for foot traffic with large animals and vehicles restricted to crossing on the ferry. As the bridge was always wet and slippery with spray from the falls, the face of the falls was removed by dynamite which moved the falls upstream. This work which damaged the look of the falls was in vain as the bridge was totally destroyed by a major flood on 22 April 1861. To encourage use of the bridge the council also built the Mataura Ferry Hotel on the west bank of the river. This was leased to John MacGibbon who with his family were the first inhabitants of the settlement and as part of his 7-year lease had the right to charge a toll on anyone crossing the river within a mile below and above the falls. At the time the only other Europeans living in the area were John Turnbull who owned the Tuturau Run and the Shanks family who owned the Marairua Run.
The loss of the bridge meant that travellers reverted to using the ferry which had been established north of the falls.
In 1866 James Pollack won the tender for the lease of the Mataura Ferry Hotel and offered to build a replacement bridge in return for the right to charge tolls for 12 years. His offer was declined by the Otago Provincial Government who built a replacement bridge of the suspension type, which was opened on 27 August 1868. Crossing the gorge downstream of the falls it was a more substantial timber structure with 16 supporting cables passing over stone pillars before being anchored in rock. A footbridge was added in 1898.
In response to the commencement on construction on the new bridge James Pollack built the Bridge Hotel on the east bank of the river by the bridge and sold the Mataura Ferry Hotel. He also petitioned the government to undertake the first survey of the location which subsequently named the area the Town of Mataura Bridge.
As a major mail coach stop on the route from Dunedin to Invercargill the bridge soon attracted a number of businessman who set up premises on the east bank around an area called Bridge Square. The construction of the telegraph line between Dunedin and Invercargill which passed through the town lead to the establishment in December 1868 of the first post and telegraph office in the Mataura Valley. This consolidated the settlement's position as a major transportation and communications hub. This in turn led to it attracting more businessmen, and becoming a major service centre. As a result of this growth a school was established in 1870. The moving of the former Mataura Ferry Hotel downstream to a location on the west bank where it was better able to service the passing traffic initiated development on the west bank which was assisted by the surveying of the west and north Mataura in 1874.
In 1875 a railway line was built from Gore to Mataura which in conjunction with establishment of the Mataura Paper Mill helped the town evolve and develop into the major industrial centre in Eastern Southland. The 1921 railway station has been listed NZHPT Category II since 1996. It is a standard class B station, of weatherboard and slate. In 2021 a feasibility study was started to consider moving the building to a new site.

Replacement of the bridge

By the 1930s the narrowness of the bridge which restricted travel to one direction at a time and its light construction had become inadequate for the increasing traffic and heavy loads. As a result, a new bridge was constructed by the Ministry of Works immediately upstream of the suspension bridge and opened in July 1939 by Bob Semple, the Minister of Works. It was a single span bow-arch reinforced concrete 53.8 metres in length.

Toxic waste

from the Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter was stored at the paper mill in Matuara from 2015 until 2021. It was moved into the disused paper mill without resource consent by a now defunct company. The 8000 tonnes of aluminium dross, also known as ouvea premix, if mixed with water would have released clouds of ammonia gas. The paper mill site could potentially be flooded by the Mataura river. There were concerns in August 2020 when firefighters had to put out a fire that came within 30 metres of the ouvea premix. The New Zealand government and New Zealand Aluminium Smelters shared the cost of removing this toxic waste, which was completed by July 2021.

Marae

Mataura Marae began being built in Mataura in the 1980s. Work resumed in 2017, including converting an old dairy factory into a wharekai. The carvings on the wharenui were carried out by Te Puia in Rotorua.
In October 2020, the Government committed $294,009 from the Provincial Growth Fund towards funding the marae development trust, creating 17 jobs.

Demographics

Mataura covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2.
Mataura had a population of 1,629 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 120 people since the 2013 census, and an increase of 69 people since the 2006 census. There were 660 households, comprising 813 males and 816 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.0 males per female. The median age was 39.6 years, with 348 people aged under 15 years, 300 aged 15 to 29, 723 aged 30 to 64, and 258 aged 65 or older.
Ethnicities were 75.5% European/Pākehā, 31.5% Māori, 2.8% Pasifika, 2.2% Asian, and 1.3% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.
The percentage of people born overseas was 6.1, compared with 27.1% nationally.
Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 56.4% had no religion, 32.4% were Christian, 2.0% had Māori religious beliefs, 0.7% were Muslim and 1.3% had other religions.
Of those at least 15 years old, 51 people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 465 people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $26,600, compared with $31,800 nationally. 81 people earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 648 people were employed full-time, 159 were part-time, and 54 were unemployed.

Local government

Prior to 1882 local government had been undertaken first by the Tutarau Wardens and then by the Tutarau Road Board. On 29 March 1892 a newly established Town Board took over local government administration of the town's affairs and representation of the town's 70 ratepayers.
The town's affairs remained under the administration of the Town Board until 1895 when it changed to the Mataura Borough Council. In 1989 the Mataura Borough Council was merged into the Gore District Council.

Mayors

  • Thomas Culling – 1895 to 1897. Prior to becoming the borough's first mayor he had been chairman of the town board.
  • Hugh Cameron
  • Thomas MacGibbon
  • John Lowden – 1903 to 1906
  • John Galt – 1906 to 1909
  • Andrew Balneaves – 1909 to 1912
  • Forrest William Brown – 1915 to 1917
  • Charles Donohue McConnell – 1919 to 1935, 1938 to 1950
  • John Buchanan – 1935 to 1938
  • James William Ingram – 1950 to 1959
  • Malcolm Tulloch – 1959 to 1962
  • S.I.L McKelvie – 1962 to 1970
  • Keith Raymond Henderson – 1970 to 1982
  • Ian Tulloch – 1982 to 1989. The last mayor of the town before it became part of the Gore District Council