Mesopotamia is an area of land at the head of the Rangitata River, east of the Southern Alps and inland from Peel Forest. The area is home to the well known Mesopotamia Station which was established by influential novelist Samuel Butler in 1860 after arriving from England. [1] The name Mesopotamia means "between two rivers." [2]
Much of the station is now managed by the Department of Conservation. Local activities include hunting, tramping, safaris, four wheel driving and jet boating. The area was used as a backdrop for the film series The Lord of the Rings .
While many attribute the formation of the station with Butler, most parts of the station had been allotted several years before to various individuals. [3] [4] Butler arrived in New Zealand in 1860 and after taking several trips into the Canterbury High Country finally settled on and successfully applied for Run No. 367 in this area. [3] He spent the following winter on the run with his stock, constructing his hut several miles up Forest Creek. The location of where the hut was situated is marked by a plaque today. Butler expanded his holdings over the following years by acquiring neighboring runs and establishing the station. [3] Butler ran the station for approximately four years before selling and returning to England with double his initial investment (£8,000). [5]
The station was sold on numerous occasions to various owners including William Parkerson, Michael and General J. R. Campbell, George McMillan, George Gerard, William Nosworthy. [3] Mesopotamia Station was placed under tenure review in 2003, with 20,863 hectares out of the present 26,115 hectares becoming public conservation land. [6] The remaining land (5,252 hectares) was freeholded to the leaseholder. [6] The current holders of the pastoral lease is the Prouting family who have held it since 1945. [7]
Notable botanist and Colonial Secretary to New Zealand, Doctor Andrew Sinclair drowned while crossing the Rangitata River in 1861. Sinclair is buried on Mesopotamia Station in a marked grave near the river.
Located at the station is a memorial to members of Mesopotamia Station who fought in the Great War. At the break out of the war the farm manager, the mustering gang and one of the wagoneers left with only two of the eight returning. [8]
A school was constructed at the station in 1956 but closed in 1999. [7]
The remains of Butler's cob cottage can be found beside the former school. [9]
Throughout the area are numerous private and public huts, as well as the remnants of past huts.
Climate data for Mesopotamia, elevation 516 m (1,693 ft), (1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Average rainfall mm (inches) | 70.0 (2.76) | 50.4 (1.98) | 52.9 (2.08) | 64.0 (2.52) | 85.7 (3.37) | 87.1 (3.43) | 72.7 (2.86) | 83.7 (3.30) | 94.1 (3.70) | 103.6 (4.08) | 66.4 (2.61) | 73.8 (2.91) | 904.4 (35.6) |
Source: NIWA [10] |
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The Potts River is a river of the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It flows generally south from the southern end of the Arrowsmith Range through a steep-sided valley between the Potts Range to the west and the Big Hill Range to the east.
Canterbury in New Zealand is the portion of the South Island to the east of the Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana, from the Waiau Uwha River in the north, to the Waitaki River in the south.
Alfred Cox was a 19th-century runholder and Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. Born in New South Wales into an upper middle class military family, he was sent home to England to learn about farming. Upon returning to New South Wales, he heard about the large profits that were possible in South Canterbury and bought licences for land that he had not seen. He stocked the land, put a manager in charge and made another trip to England with his wife and their, at that time, small family. He moved to New Zealand permanently in 1857 and lived on his large farm, Raukapuka, which stretched from the sea to the foothills, and of which the homestead was located in present-day Geraldine. He sold his South Canterbury interests and moved to the Waikato, where he bought large land holdings in Hamilton and Thames. He tried to drain his swamp land and lost a lot of money with those ventures. He sold up in 1882 and moved to Christchurch, where he retired.
John Studholme (1829–1903) was a 19th-century British pioneer of New Zealand, farmer and politician in the Canterbury region of New Zealand.
John Barton Arundel Acland, often referred to as J. B. A. Acland, was born in Devon, England, as the youngest child of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet. He followed his father's path of education and became a barrister in London. With his colleague and friend Charles George Tripp, he formed the plan to emigrate to Canterbury, New Zealand, to take up sheep farming. They were the first to take up land in the Canterbury high country for this purpose. When they divided their land into separate holdings, Acland kept the 100,000 acres (400 km2) that made up the Mount Peel station.
Charles George Tripp was a pioneering sheep farmer in South Canterbury, New Zealand. Together with his friend and business partner John Acland, he was the first to use the Canterbury high country for sheep farming.
Edward Elworthy was a New Zealand farmer and businessman, and large landowner who at one point was estimated to have been one of the richest men in New Zealand.
Mesopotamia Station is a high-country station in New Zealand's South Island. Known mainly for one of its first owners, the novelist Samuel Butler, it is probably the country's best known station. Despite popular belief, Butler was not the station's first owner.
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The Rangitata Diversion Race or RDR is a combined irrigation and power generation scheme that diverts water from the Rangitata River to irrigate over 66,000 hectares of farmland in Mid-Canterbury, New Zealand. The RDR project was the first major river diversion in New Zealand, and the largest irrigation scheme in the country. It was originally constructed by the Public Works Department between 1937 and 1944. The main canal is 67 km long, 10 m wide and 3 m deep.