Title: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Author: Cyclopedia Company Limited

Publication details: The Cyclopedia Company, Limited, 1905, Christchurch

Part of: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand

License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand Licence

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Island Cliff is an agricultural and pastoral district with a flag station on the Oamaru-Tokarahi line, twenty-three miles from Oamaru, and two miles from Tokarahi. The station stands at an elevation of 681 feet above sea level, and the population of the settlement at the census of 1901 was seventy-one. Island Cliff is in the Awamoko riding of the Waitaki county, and in the electorate of Mount Ida. The district has a post office and telephone bureau, a public school, a blacksmith's shop, and a creamery, which is well supported by the settlers in the neighbourhood. The district takes its name from a notable hill on Mr. W. Gardiner's estate; the hill is almost entirely surrounded by streams, and its cone consists of limestone formation. The main road along the settlement passes through a remarkable ravine on the course of the Awamoko river; its sides consist of limestone buttresses, from which slope away the green table-lands. A great many of the settlers hold their land from the Government under leases in perpetuity, the farms having originally formed a portion of the Tokarahi estate.