Nightcaps, New Zealand

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Nightcaps
Nightcaps is located in New Zealand
Nightcaps
Nightcaps
Coordinates: 45°58′S 168°02′E / 45.967°S 168.033°E / -45.967; 168.033Coordinates: 45°58′S 168°02′E / 45.967°S 168.033°E / -45.967; 168.033
CountryNew Zealand
RegionSouthland
DistrictSouthland District
Population
 • Total294

Nightcaps is a town in the Southland region of New Zealand's South Island. According to the 2013 New Zealand census, its population is 294, consisting of 165 males and 132 females.[1] This represents a decline of 15 people since the 2006 census. State Highway 96 passes through Nightcaps as it runs between Ohai and Winton. The town has a golf course and two primary schools that cater to students from Nightcaps, the surrounding rural area, and since the 2003 closure of its own school, Ohai.[2]

Nightcaps has a more industrial history than most Southland towns due to nearby coal deposits. A private railway was built from the terminus of the New Zealand Railways Department's Wairio Branch to Nightcaps to provide more efficient transport of coal; operated by the Nightcaps Coal Company, it opened not long after the state's railway reached Wairio in 1909. In 1918, a proposal was made to build another line to coal interests around Ohai, and the construction of this line was fiercely opposed by the Nightcaps Coal Company, fearing a loss of business. However, construction was approved in July 1919 with a deviation through Morley Village, considered part of Nightcaps. The first section of the line, including the part serving Morley Village, opened on 1 September 1920. Ohai was reached four years later, and in 1925, the Nightcaps Coal Company ceased to operate; they handed over their railway line to the Railways Department, who dismantled it in 1926 as the Ohai line was capable of catering for traffic from Nightcaps. The Ohai line continues to operate, primarily for the carriage of coal, and it is one of the few remaining rural branch lines out of many that once existed throughout New Zealand. It has been part of the national rail network since 1 June 1990.[3] Since 2011, Bathurst Resources has been extracting coal at Nightcaps.[4]

References[]

  1. ^ "QuickStats About Nightcaps". Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  2. ^ Map of Nightcaps showing golf course, highway, and schools.
  3. ^ Churchman & Hurst 2001, p. 210.
  4. ^ Moore, Rebecca (5 June 2017). "Black Diamond coalmine, in Nightcaps, is half complete". Stuff. Retrieved 8 December 2020.

Further reading[]

  • Bulling, Gillian M. (1991). "Preventable deaths? : the 1918 influenza pandemic in Nightcaps". Dunedin: University of Otago. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • Churchman, Geoffrey B; Hurst, Tony (2001) [1990, 1991]. The Railways of New Zealand: A Journey through History (Second ed.). Transpress New Zealand. ISBN 0-908876-20-3.

External links[]

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