Springburn is eighty-two miles from Christchurch, and thirty south-west from Ashburton, and is the terminus of the Ashburton-Springburn branch railway. It has a daily mail service with Christchurch. The local post office has a postal note branch, but the nearest telegraph office is at Mount Somers, four miles away. Springburn is a sheepfarming district in the county of Ashburton. The school is about one mile from the railway station. Ashburton Gorge, about eight miles distant, supplies the district with coal and lime.