Ashburton River / Hakatere

The Ashburton River / Hakatere is a river in the Canterbury region of New Zealand, flowing across Mid Canterbury from the Southern Alps to the Pacific Ocean. The official name of the river was amended to become a dual name by the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998.^[1] It has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because it supports breeding colonies of the endangered black-billed gull.^[2]

The river has two branches which meet 21 kilometres (13 mi) from the coast, just inland of the town of Ashburton. The branches remain parallel and no more than 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) apart for a further 20 kilometres (12 mi) upstream of their confluence, finally diverging near the small settlement of Ashburton Forks.^[3][4] The rivers' path southeast across the Canterbury Plains lies in a shallow depression between the higher shingle fans created by the much larger Rakaia and Rangitata rivers.^[4] Both branches are crossed via siphons by the Rangitata Diversion Race, part of an irrigation scheme.^[3]

The Ashburton River North Branch / Hakatere flows from the slopes of Godley Peak (2,087 metres (6,847 ft)) in the Palmer Range. The uppermost reach of the river is known as Petticoat lane.^[5] The river flows south then southwest through narrow scree-sided valleys with almost no areas of river flats. The Black Hills Range and Pudding Hill Range lie to the northeast and the Alford Range to the southwest. The river emerges from the hills adjacent to Pudding Hill airfield.

The larger Ashburton River South Branch / Hakatere starts as the outflow of the Ashburton Glacier which flows down from Mount Arrowsmith (2,781 metres (9,124 ft)), 26 kilometres (16 mi) west of the North branch source. It initially flows southeast down a narrow valley between the Big Hill Range and the Wild Man's Brother Range. 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from source the river trends south, turning southeast again to cross the flat Hakatere Valley where the outflows of several small lakes (collectively known as the Ashburton Lakes) join it.^[6] The river exits the valley via the Ashburton Gorge, with the Moorhouse Range to the south and the Clent Hills and Winterslow Range to the north, emerging onto the Canterbury Plains at Mount Somers then flowing east towards Ashburton Forks.

The river was first known by its Māori name, Hakatere, and marked the boundary between the villages of Taumotu, at the mouth of Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora to the north, and Arowhenua, south of the Rangitata River. Travellers camped there to catch eels when journeying between the two.^[7] The Kai Tahu chief Tarawhata had a settlement near the mouth of the Hakatere in the mid 19th century.

In early 1844 government official Edward Shortland and his party, travelling north from Otago, took an inland route to avoid coastal swamps and camped on an island in the bed of the Hakatere. They noted that it was nearly dry in summer, but broad and swift in winter when fed by snows.^[7] Around 1848–49 the river was renamed the Ashburton by the Canterbury Association surveyor Joseph Thomas, after Bingham Baring, 2nd Baron Ashburton (a banker and investor who was a leading member of the Association.^[4]

The settlement of Ashburton was built later on the north bank of the river, from which it took its name; the river separates it from its southern suburb, Tinwald, and marks the boundary between Mid Canterbury and South Canterbury. A small cairn north of the Ashburton River bridge commemmorates "William Turton's Acoomodation House", Ashburton's first building, erected in 1858.^[8] Turton was responsible for ferrying people across the river, which had a soft and treacherous base and was more hazardous that today.^[8]

44°2′59″S 171°48′3″E / 44.04972°S 171.80083°E / -44.04972; 171.80083