Waimate

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Waimate is a town and district in the South Island of New Zealand. It is 46 km south of Timaru in south Canterbury, 20 km north of the Waitaki River. The population of Waimate at the count of the 2001 census is 7,101 people, Waimate has the least amount of Maori people per district in New Zealand. It has an area of 3,565 square kilometres (?)

Waimate is well-known locally for its population of wallabies. These marsupials were introduced from Australia and now live in the wild in the countryside surrounding the town and are sometime farmed and exported to zoos.

Waimate's most famous citizen was Norman Kirk, Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1972 until his death in office in 1974. St. Augustine's Church located in John Street, Waimate was designed in 1872 by one of New Zealand's most notable architects, Benjamin Mountfort.

From 1877 until 1966, Waimate was served by the Waimate Branch that connected with the Main South Line some seven kilometres east in Studholme. For roughly seventy years ending in 1953, the line ran beyond Waimate to Waihao Downs. When the branch line was closed on 31 March 1966, Waimate became the first major town in New Zealand to lose its railway connection.