Owaka is a small town in the

Clutha District Clutha District is a local government district of southern New Zealand, with its headquarters in the Otago town of Balclutha. The Clutha District has a land area of and an estimated population of as of . Clutha District occupies the majority o ...

South Otago South Otago lies in the south east of the South Island of New Zealand. As the name suggests, it forms the southernmost part of the geographical region of Otago. The exact definition of the area designated as South Otago is imprecise, as the area is ...

, in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

. It is the largest community in the rugged, forested

Catlins The Catlins (sometimes referred to as The Catlins Coast) comprises an area in the southeastern corner of the South Island of New Zealand. The area lies between Balclutha and Invercargill, straddling the boundary between the Otago and Southla ...

area, close to the border with Southland, some south of Balclutha on the

Southern Scenic Route The Southern Scenic Route is a tourist highway in New Zealand linking Queenstown, Fiordland, Te Anau and the iconic Milford Road to Dunedin via, Riverton, Invercargill and The Catlins. An Australian travel magazine labelled it "one of t ...

Geography

Owaka lies to the north of Catlins Lake, an estuarial widening in the

Catlins River The Catlins River flows southeastward through The Catlins, an area of the southern South Island of New Zealand. Its total length is , and it flows into the Pacific Ocean at the holiday settlement of Pounawea, south of Balclutha. Its upper estua ...

which is largely mudflats at low tide. The mouth of the river, shared with the smaller

Owaka River Owaka is a small town in the Clutha District of South Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. It is the largest community in the rugged, forested Catlins area, close to the border with Southland, some south of Balclutha on the Southern S ...

, lies to the southeast of the town. The smaller settlement and holiday location of

Pounawea Pounawea is a small town in The Catlins, an area of the southern South Island of New Zealand. It is located four kilometres southwest of Owaka, at the mouth of the Catlins River. It is a popular holiday spot with a seasonal population, there are ...

is from Owaka on the estuary of the Catlins and Owaka rivers. The town lies on a river flat surrounded by hills - it is overlooked by the Mount Misery, which lies immediately to the town's east.

History

The town's name comes from the

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

for "the place of canoes", a reference to the town's location close to the

Ōwaka River The Ōwaka River, until 2019 officially the Owaka River, flows southeastward through The Catlins, an area of the southern South Island of New Zealand. Its total length is , and it shares the estuary of the Catlins River, flowing into the Pacific ...

, which joins the

three kilometres (2 miles) from the town, close to the coast. The town was originally called Catlins River, then Quakerfield. On 22 June 1896, Owaka became the terminus of the

Catlins River Branch The Catlins River Branch was a branch line railway that formed part of New Zealand's national rail network. It ran through the Catlins region in southwestern Otago and was built in sections between 1879 and 1915. It closed in 1971 except for th ...

railway, and it retained this status until an extension of the branch line to Ratanui was opened on 1 August 1904. The railway ultimately terminated in Tahakopa, but as traffic declined on the line in its later years, the Tuesday freight train (one of four per week) ran only as far as Owaka after 1958. The branch closed on 27 February 1971, and little evidence of its existence remains in or around Owaka besides some of the line's old formation, as the last substantial relic, Owaka station's

goods shed A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...

, was removed in 1986. In November 1991, 15-year old Kylie Smith was abducted in Owaka and was raped and murdered by Paul Bailey. Bailey pled guilty in 1992, and was subsequently jailed for life, with a non-parole period of 10 years. In 2021, his application for parole was denied and his next opportunity will be in 2023. Bailey's offending had a substantial impact on the town at the time: the local pastor, who had assisted Bailey in gaining employment in Owaka, had his house vandalised, and a lynch mob threatened to burn down his church, whilst that same mob burned down Bailey's house.

Demographics

Owaka is described by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement. It covers , and is part of the much larger Catlins statistical area. Owaka had a population of 309 at the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short ...

, an increase of 3 people (1.0%) since the 2013 census, and a decrease of 18 people (−5.5%) since the 2006 census. There were 141 households. There were 153 males and 156 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.98 males per female, with 51 people (16.5%) aged under 15 years, 42 (13.6%) aged 15 to 29, 150 (48.5%) aged 30 to 64, and 69 (22.3%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 99.0% European/Pākehā, 14.6% Māori, and 1.0% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). Although some people objected to giving their religion, 66.0% had no religion, 23.3% were Christian and 1.9% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 21 (8.1%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 84 (32.6%) people had no formal qualifications. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 123 (47.7%) people were employed full-time, 39 (15.1%) were part-time, and 9 (3.5%) were unemployed.

Education

The Catlins Area School is a co-educational state area school for Year 1 to 13 students, with a roll of as of . The school opened in 1875 as Owaka District High School.

References

{{Clutha District Populated places in Otago Southern Scenic Route The Catlins Clutha District