Calton Hill, New Zealand
Calton Hill | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 45°54′0″S 170°28′15″E / 45.90000°S 170.47083°E | |
Country | New Zealand |
City | Dunedin |
Established | 1900s |
Area | |
• Land | 66 ha (163 acres) |
Population (June 2023)[2] | |
• Total | 1,580 |
Lookout Point |
Balaclava |
Maryhill |
Burnside |
Calton Hill
|
Caversham |
Concord | Corstorphine | Kew |
Calton Hill is an elevated southern residential suburb of the City of
The suburb was established in the 1900s, as part of the second wave of suburban development in Dunedin. The parent suburb is Caversham, one of Dunedin's (and New Zealand's) oldest suburbs, established two generations prior as part of the first wave of settlement of the area. During the first wave of settlement before Calton Hill was established, it is unclear what modern day Calton Hill was called; possibilities include Caversham Hills or, more informally, John Sidey's farm.
Calton Hill is the geographical area bounded by the
For many of those on the northern and eastern slopes, Calton Hill has views to
Geography
The heart of Dunedin City is a central plain surrounded by hills, the remnants of a long-extinct volcano. Calton Hill lies around 6 km (3.7 mi) to the southwest of the city centre (The Octagon); line of sight with Calton Hill from the Octagon is obscured by a large hill spur heading east from the main ridge line that forms the western edge of central Dunedin. Looking up and to the west from the southern end of Dunedin's central plain, Calton Hill is the most northern prominence.
Calton Hill has a crowning northerly ridge with two high points, bookended by the upper section of Corstorphine Valley in the south and
Surrounding areas
Calton Hill shares its immediate borders with suburbs of
Residential areas in New Zealand are often not clearly defined, and suburban boundaries often overlap and change depending on subjective understandings. It is unclear whether residents within the geographical area of Calton Hill identify with Calton Hill as the community they belong to, or Lookout Point, Caversham, or Corstophine.
History
Prior to the arrival of humans to New Zealand, the area of Calton Hill was likely clothed in a dense and highly diverse mixed
Pre-colonial history
Approximately 800 years ago,
There are only two surviving place names of the area to suggest it was an important area to the Māori. The bordering saddle of Lookout Point was named Koranga-a-runga-te-raki after
European colonisation
At the time of the Treaty of Waitangi being negotiated and signed in January and February 1840, Calton Hill was probably by then a mosaic of tussock grassland and bracken shrubland with pockets of podocarp and broadleaf forest in steep gullies. Botanical records indicate the Calton Hill area that once was covered in dense podocarp, broadleaf forest had been displaced by human-lit fires. In the years prior to this it is unlikely the area would have been used by the small number of Europeans who inhabited the country.
From 1844 to 1863 Ngāi Tahu sold their lands to the Crown in a series of nine purchases. Calton Hill was 200 acres of a total of 400,000 acres (160,000 hectares) that made up the Otago Purchase, completed on 31 July 1844. The Crown reimbursed just £2,400 to local chiefs. In 1848, the first colonist ships arrived in the Dunedin area.
In 1855 John Sidey purchased a large area of land stretching from the Caversham Hills (modern day Corstophine, Calton Hill) to Mount Grand/ Kaikorai Hill 4 km (2.5 mi) away above Kaikorai Valley.[5] With the exception of steep, inaccessible gully areas, most other area would have been cleared, sown with exotic grass species, and fenced for cattle farming. A small number trees may have been harvested for building products and firewood. During this time, there was a non-shingled road that skirted the northern edge of Calton Hill and up the Caversham Valley and over the Lookout Point saddle.
In 1861, gold was discovered in Central Otago. Whilst hundreds of kilometres away, the northern edge of modern-day Calton Hill was a short stretch of the primary goldrush highway. Thousands of people began trekking past with their swags following the Caversham Valley as the only road south to the diggings of the
Now, the area has two railway lines that have been tunnelled through the sandstone beneath. One is no longer open for transport; the other remains part of the main south trunk line. The first tunnel was established in December 1873. The second completed in 1910, the tunnels provided a transport link to and from the city and other urban areas of Dunedin until the 1960s. The Caversham railway station, only 10 to 15 minutes walk from any part of Calton Hill, was the nearest station. In addition to the railway line, between 1880 and 1940, residents could also use the Dunedin cable tramway system. The nearest station was also at Caversham.
The twentieth century
The first published mention of the existence of Calton Hill is from 1907. The farmland was surveyed for the establishment of roads, related infrastructure and residential sections. The "Township of Calton Hill" was formally gazetted by the City of Dunedin 19 November 1907 with advertisements appearing in newspapers for "choice sections, view and sun, low prices".[6] Bare land remained for much of the sections until the first houses were built immediately prior to World War I, with remaining farmland tendered for grazing.
A concentrated phase of building occurred during the 1950s and 1960s, completed through the Government's state housing scheme established 15–20 years previous. Mass public transport was being replaced by mass private transport; garages were retrofitted on older houses to store cars and the suburb's population increased. Riselaw Road School was established in 1953 along with a community hall, play centre, and other facilities for children and families on the adjacent Riselaw Road site.
Demographics
Calton Hill covers 0.66 km2 (0.25 sq mi)[1] and had an estimated population of 1,580 as of June 2023,[2] with a population density of 2,394 people per km2.
Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
---|---|---|
2006 | 1,524 | — |
2013 | 1,434 | −0.87% |
2018 | 1,482 | +0.66% |
Source: [7] |
Calton Hill had a population of 1,482 at the
Ethnicities were 84.0% European/Pākehā, 13.6% Māori, 7.5% Pasifika, 4.3% Asian, and 5.7% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.
The percentage of people born overseas was 14.4, compared with 27.1% nationally.
Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 59.1% had no religion, 25.1% were Christian, 0.6% had Māori religious beliefs, 1.4% were Hindu, 1.6% were Muslim, 0.6% were Buddhist and 3.0% had other religions.
Of those at least 15 years old, 189 (16.6%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 219 (19.2%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $28,000, compared with $31,800 nationally. 78 people (6.8%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 582 (51.1%) people were employed full-time, 174 (15.3%) were part-time, and 63 (5.5%) were unemployed.[7]
A high proportion of Calton Hill residents are of low socio-economic status compared to those of other suburbs of Dunedin, with a significant proportion of the households being in the Riselaw Road state-owned housing areas built during the 1950s and 1960s.[citation needed]
Schools and infrastructure
Originally Riselaw Road School was a hub for the community. Now, the local primary school has been amalgamated and renamed as Carisbrook School Heights Site. It has two classes on its roll. In 2020 it is now Southern Health School. Adjacent to the school is the Riselaw Road Playcentre. Other community facilities include two public bus services, Calton Hill Community Hall, the Dunedin Public Library Book bus (which visits the suburb once a week), two children's playground areas, sports fields alongside the school, and other public infrastructure typical of a New Zealand suburb (street lights, curb and channel drainage etc.). Potential public recreation areas lie to the north with a forest reserve, and to the south with under utilised sports grounds and bordering farmland. The nearest secondary schools are Queen's High School and King's High School located in Forbury, 2–3 km to the south on the boundary between South Dunedin and St Kilda. The closest commercial/retail area is in South Road, Caversham. Residents are serviced by two retail food businesses on opposite ends of Riselaw Road. There are a few home-based businesses, but the area is primarily residential.
Governance
Calton Hill falls within Dunedin City and as such is under the governance of
Nationally, Calton Hill falls within the
References
- ^ a b "ArcGIS Web Application". statsnz.maps.arcgis.com. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
- ^ a b "Population estimate tables - NZ.Stat". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
- ^ Wellington, Datacom. "New Zealand Gazetteer: Search for Place Names". Land Information New Zealand (LINZ). Retrieved 28 August 2015.
- ^ Goodall, Maarire; Griffiths, George (1980). Maori Dunedin. Dunedin: Otago Heritage Books. p. 18.
- ^ a b Department, History. "The Caversham Project : University of Otago". caversham.otago.ac.nz. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
- ^ Zealand, National Library of New. "Papers Past | Page 12 Advertisements Column 5 (Otago Daily Times, 1907-10-17)". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
- ^ a b "Statistical area 1 dataset for 2018 Census". Statistics New Zealand. March 2020. Calton Hill (354100). 2018 Census place summary: Calton Hill