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

Rivers And Harbours

Rivers And Harbours.

The principal river in Otago, and the largest in the colony is the Clutha (Clyde), named Molyneux by Captain Cook, but renamed by the settlers in memory of the great Scottish waterway. It forms the outlet for the waters of Lakes Hawea, Wanaka, and Wakatipu. Its principal sources are the Makarora and Hunter, which rise in the Southern Alps not far south of Mount Cook, and help to form Lakes Hawea and Wanaka. The united outlets from these lakes form the main stream of the Clutha. On its right bank it receives the Kawarau, which drains Lake Wakatipu, and the smaller streams Cardrona and Pomahaka. On the left bank it is fed by the Manuherikia, Lindis, Tuapeka, and Waitahuna. Though only about 150 miles in length, the Clutha discharges an immense volume of water into the ocean; some authorities fix the actual amount at 1,600,000 cubic feet per minute, which surpasses the outflow of the Nile, and is about sixteen times that of the Thames. But the rapidity of its fall, the speed of the current, and the broken nature of its bed, render the Clutha useless for navigation over a considerable portion of its course. Small steamers run up about forty miles from the mouth. The Waitaki, the boundary stream between Otago and Canterbury, is not navigable. It is more strictly a Canterbury stream, as the Tasman, its main source, rises in the glaciers near Mount Cook; and it drains the great Canterbury Lakes Tekapo, Pukaki, and Ohau. Otago is a well watered province, but apart from such streams as the Waikouaiti, Waihemo, and Catlins, the only other river of importance is the Taieri, which drains some of the finest agricultural land in the colony, and reaches the sea, after a most circuitous course, about twenty miles south of Dunedin.

In Southland the rivers are numerous and important. The Waiau, which
Confluence of Kawarau and Arrow Rivers. Photo by Rev. W. A. Gunn.

Confluence of Kawarau and Arrow Rivers. Photo by Rev. W. A. Gunn.

page 11
Training Wall, Otago Heads.Designed by G. M. Barr.

Training Wall, Otago Heads.
Designed by G. M. Barr.

originally formed the western boundary of the province, drains a large portion of the wild west country, and carries to the sea the waters of the great Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau. The Mataura, rising in the Eyre mountains, was the eastern boundary of Southland. The Oreti rises in the same range, and flows, nearly due south to Invercargill harbour. The Aparima, or Jacob's river, rises in the Takitimo mountains, and flows, parallel with the Oreti, into Riverton harbour. These rivers range from about sixty miles to 100 miles in length.
The general character of the rivers of Otago and Southland is very different from that of the Canterbury rivers. The Clutha and its tributaries are practically
Protected.Milford Sound.Muir & Moodie, Dunedin, photo.

Protected.
Milford Sound.
Muir & Moodie, Dunedin, photo.

page 12 mountain torrents, snow-fed, liable to sudden floods and very swift and treacherous. The Southland rivers, through rising in snow-clad ranges, are more susceptible to the rainfall; but there is little to be seen in Otago of the wide shingle bed and winding stream, too narrow for its capacious channel, that characterise the river system of Canterbury province.

The important harbours of the province are situated on the east and south coasts. The thirteen Sounds on the west coast are in most cases magnificent harhours, but as the country is partially unexplored, and unfit for close settlement, the inlets in that quarter have no commercial importance. On the east coast, starting from the Waitaki and following the coastline south for fifteen miles, the first harbour met is that of Oamaaru. Naturally an open and not a particularly safe roadstead, it has been converted by a breakwater into a flourishing port. Twenty miles further on is Moeraki harbour, with the town of Hampden in its neighbourhood. On Otago harbour, running almost due south, are built Port Chalmers and Dunedin. On Molyneux Bay, about a mile from the entrance, is Port Molyneux. At the mouth of Catlins river there is a harbour for small vessels. Waikawa harbour, in the extreme south of the province, can accommodate ships drawing as much as twenty feet of water. At the mouth of the Mataura is Toitoi harbour, which is unsafe, and has a dangerous bar.

In Southland the chief port is Invercargill, connected with Bluff harbour by a railway seventeen miles in length. The harbour is to some extent sheltered from the southerly winds and seas that are characteristic of these latitudes; and is of great importance as being the nearest New Zealand port to Melbourne and Tasmania. The only other Southland harbour of any pretensions to importance is that of Riverton, into which the Aparima (Jacob's river) falls. On the whole, the coast of Otago and Southland is by no means well supplied with harbours; for the magnificent sheets of unfathomable water along the iron-bound Fiord country are useless to commerce, because the country behind them is practically uninhabitable.