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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]
Boundaries and Area
Boundaries and Area
The Otago land district covers a considerably larger area than the Otago provincial district, as an area of about 500,000 acres was detached from the south-west of Canterbury, and added to Otago, for the purpose of the present system of administration. As now constituted, the Otago land district lies between the 44th and 47th parallels of south latitude, and extends from 167 degrees 21 minutes to 171 degrees 10 minutes of east longitude. The distance from Milford Sound on the West Coast to Waikouaiti Bay on the East Coast, is about 160 miles, and the length of the district from north to south is also about 160 miles. It is bounded on the north by the Canterbury and Westland districts; on the south-east and south by the Pacific ocean; on the west and south by the Southland boundary, Foveaux Strait and the Pacific ocean, on the east coast, by the mouth of the Waitaki river, and on the west coast by Big Bay, where the Westland boundary also reaches the sea, from the extreme northern limit of Otago. The total area of the Otago land district is 9,482,800 acres.
The Southland land district, including the counties of Southland, Wallace, Fiord, and Stewart Island, lies between south latitude 45 degrees and 47 degrees, and between east longitude 166 degrees 15 minutes and 169 degrees 15 minutes. But the limits of Southland are, for administrative purposes, extended by the inclusion of the Snares, Auckland, Enderby, Campbell, Antipodes, Bounty, and all other islands within the limits of the colony south of 47 degrees south latitude. The boundary of Southland, starting from Foveaux Strait, a little west of Chasland's Mistake, runs north-west by the upper valley of the Mataura, strikes Lake Wakatipu at its southern end near Kingston, follows the lake almost up to the latitude of Queenstown (45 degrees south latitude), and then strikes nearly due west towards the ocean, which it reaches at George Sound. The extreme length north and south, from Lake Wakatipu to the Bluff, is about 130 miles; the maximum breadth is about 140 miles. Including Stewart Island, but excluding the outlying islands just enumerated, as well as Solander, Ruapuke and others in Foveaux Strait, the area of Southland is 6,966,592 acres, of which Stewart Island covers about 425,390 acres. The total area of Otago and Southland, taken collectively, is thus about 16,449,400 acres, or about two-fifths of the area of the South Island.
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Protected. Muir & Moodie, Dunedin, photo.
Sutherland Falls—1904 feet. Highest Waterfall in the World.
The provincial district of Southland was of much smaller extent than the present land district. It was bounded on the east from Eyre Peak by the Mataura river to its outlet in Foveaux Strait; on the west by the Waiau river from Lake Manapouri to Tewaewae Bay; and on the north by a line drawn south- page 8 west from the Eyre Mountains, and meeting a line drawn due east from Lake Manapouri to the Oreti river. The total area included in these boundaries (along with Stewart Island, which in 1863 was included in the province) was only 2,776,000 acres.
The coast line of Otago varies greatly in character. On the west from Awarua Point, the southern extremity of Westland, to Windsor Point, in the extreme south-west, the coast is broken up into a succession of deep inlets, which in their structure, the proximity of the mountains to the sea, and the magnificence of their scenic effects may be compared with the Fiords of Norway. The thirteen sounds—Milford, Bligh, and George Sounds, Doubtful Inlet, Dusky Bay, Chalky and Preservation Inlets—with their dense forests and towering snow clad heights, will receive more attention in a later section. From Windsor Point to Tewaewae Bay, along Foveaux Strait, the coast is unbroken, and the south coast of Southland province for about eighty miles is a low flat beach. The east coast of Otago is very different in character from the west. Starting from the mouth of the Waitaki, a long line of beach backed by low hills, leads south towards Otago Harbour, where the coast is broken by the deep and picturesque inlet, on which the capital of the province is built. Below Cape Saunders the coast is again smooth, and the country behind it low lying till the Clutha is reached. Between the Clutha and the Mataura the seaboard is more broken and rugged, and the shore is comparatively steep. But on the whole no stronger geographical contrast could be imagined than that suggested by a comparison between the east and west coasts of Otago.