The Kaikorai Stream is a short river which runs through the city of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

, in New Zealand's

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

. The stream has origins in the northwestern suburbs of Dunedin, flowing southwest towards the Kaikorai Lagoon. Originally named Kaikarae by

Ngāi Tahu Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori people, Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim, New Zealand, Blenhe ...

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 ...

referencing an event where the stream was a place where

petrel Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the phylogenetic order Procellariiformes. Description Petrels are a monophyletic group of marine seabirds, sharing a characteristic of a nostril arrangement that results in the name "tubenoses". Petrels enco ...

s were caught and eaten, the stream became highly modified during European settlement, and developed a reputation for poor water quality.

Etymology

The name 'Kaikorai' is a corruption of 'kai karae',

for 'eating

s', referring to a Māori explorer whose party is said to have eaten these seabirds while camping at the mouth of the stream. The first references in print media to the Kaikorai Stream date from 1851. The stream does not have an official name but "official" maps name Fraser's Creek as Kaikorai Stream and do not give any label to the watercourse through Balmacewen. A 2013

Land Information New Zealand Land Information New Zealand (LINZ; ) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with geographical information and surveying functions as well as handling land titles, and managing Crown land and property. The minister responsible ...

report on misspelt names suggests the name "should be Kaikarae", and in 2023, the name Kaikarae was recorded as a collected name for the stream, as a part of the Te Waipounamu tangata whenua place names map project, in collaboration with Ngāi Tahu.

New Zealand Company The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model that was focused on the systematic colonisation of New Ze ...

surveyor

Frederick Tuckett Frederick Tuckett (1807–1876) was a New Zealand surveyor, explorer and New Zealand Company agent. He was born in Frenchay, Gloucestershire, England in about 1807. He surveyed Nelson and Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most popul ...

named the stream "Green River" in 1844, probably related to the nearby offshore Green Island (Ōkaihae) and the suburb of the same name.

Geology

The stream cuts through late Cretaceous-Tertiary sedimentary and igneous rocks and Quaternary floodplain conglomerate and colluvium. In the area of Kaikorai Valley College the bedrock is the Altonian (Lower Miocene) (c.17 Ma millions years ago) Caversham Sandstone.

Course

The stream drains the south eastern and eastern slopes of Flagstaff, Kaikorai Hill and the Balmacewen area, flows through Kaikorai Valley and Green Island and empties into Kaikorai Estuary. The

water catchment A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, th ...

area is and has about 15,000 residents.McMillan, Simon
Important to protect little battler stream
''

Otago Daily Times The ''Otago Daily Times'' (''ODT'') is a newspaper published by Allied Press Ltd in Dunedin, New Zealand. The ''ODT'' is one of the country's four main daily newspapers, serving the southern South Island with a circulation of around 26,000 and ...

'' 2004-06-23 (The term 'battler' was chosen by headline writer, not the author.) There are two branches both sometimes known as 'Kaikorai Stream'.

Balmacewen

The branch of the Kaikorai Stream which flows through Balmacewen has its

source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute ...

in the Otago Golf Club's Balmacewen Golf Course. From here the stream flows mainly through

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe (fluid conveyance), pipe, reinforced concrete or other materia ...

s below Bishopscourt -- a group of playing fields used by the Kaikorai Rugby Football Club -- and an

intermediate school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

. This part of the stream is sometimes incorrectly called "School Creek", which is the name of a nearby tributary of Ross Creek. Below Bishopscourt, the culvert opens into a stream through the Shetland St Community Garden and Kaikorai Common. On either side are a

marae A ' (in Māori language, New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian language, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan language, Tongan), ' (in Marquesan language, Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan language, Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves reli ...

and a

retirement village A retirement community is a residential community or housing complex designed for older adults who are generally able to care for themselves. Assistance from home care agencies is allowed in some communities, and activities and socialization opp ...

. A pond and areas of swamp and forest and a

community garden A community garden is a piece of land gardened or cultivated by a group of people individually or collectively. Normally in community gardens, the land is divided into individual plots. Each individual gardener is responsible for their own plot ...

have been developed here in a

wetland conservation Wetland conservation is aimed at protecting and preserving areas of land including marshes, swamps, bogs, anfensthat are covered by water seasonally or permanently due to a variety of threats from both natural and Anthropogenic hazard, anthropoge ...

project of the Dunedin Environment Centre Trust. This land was originally intended for a

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

linking Kaikorai Valley to

Leith Valley Leith Valley is a suburb, valley, and general area of the New Zealand city of Dunedin, located to the northwest of the city centre. To differentiate the name of the valley from that of the suburb, the former is usually referred to as ''the'' Le ...

and the Dunedin Northern Motorway. The stream is piped through the suburb of Kaikorai, past the Kaikorai Presbyterian Church and beneath

social housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

built on the former Kaikorai Cable Car depot. It continues partly in open stream but mainly in pipes up to 100 years old maintained by

Dunedin City Council The Dunedin City Council () is the Local government in New Zealand, local government authority for Dunedin in New Zealand. It is a Territorial authorities of New Zealand, territorial authority elected to represent the people of Dunedin. Since O ...

through private residential property. The Kaikorai Stream culvert is joined by

tributaries A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which the ...

from

Halfway Bush Halfway Bush is a suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located to the northwest of the city centre, close to the point at which Taieri Road becomes the winding rural Three Mile Hill Road. It was this road which gave the suburb it ...

, then empties into the much larger Fraser's Creek.

Fraser's Creek

Fraser's Creek provides the bulk of the Kaikorai Stream's flow, and superficially appears to be the "main" river, and is indeed labelled ''Kaikorai Stream'' on official maps. Excess water (brought here by pipeline from Deep Stream in the

Taieri River The Taieri River (a misspelling of the original Māori name ''Taiari'' ) is the fourth-longest river in New Zealand and is in Otago in the South Island. Rising in the Lammerlaw Range, it initially flows north, then east around the Rock and Pill ...

catchment) is discharged from a city

water reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of water, interrupt ...

. This spilling has taken place since the mid 1970s, providing a source of cool, clear water of high quality that would otherwise not be available in the Kaikorai catchment. In dry weather, about two thirds of the flow of the Kaikorai Stream comes from this outflow. Fraser's Creek flows through Fraser's Gully, a popular recreation reserve clad in native bush.

Lower river

From the confluence the Kaikorai Stream flows southwest down the wide

Kaikorai Valley Kaikorai Valley is a long broad valley which runs through the west of the New Zealand city of Dunedin, to the west of the city centre. It is the valley of a small stream, the Kaikorai Stream, which runs from northeast to southwest down the ...

through the suburbs of

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

and Kenmure. At Bradford the stream flows through the Roslyn Woollen Mills, a former

textile mill Textile manufacturing or textile engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful good ...

where according to legend the colour of blankets being made could be determined by the hue of the river water.Norris, Joanna
The tale of a waterway abused
in ''

'' 2004-07-03 Pupils of the adjacent

Kaikorai Valley College Kaikorai Valley College is a medium-sized co-educational secondary school in Dunedin, New Zealand. Initially starting as Kaikorai Valley High School in 1958, the school combined with Kenmure Intermediate School in 1996 to become Kaikorai Valley ...

use the stream for

outdoor education Outdoor education is organized learning that takes place in the outdoors, such as during school camping trips. Outdoor education programs sometimes involve residential or quest, journey wilderness-based experiences which engage participants in a v ...

, studying water quality and flow, learning

fly fishing Fly fishing is an angling technique that uses an ultra-lightweight lure called an artificial fly, which typically mimics small invertebrates such as flying and aquatic insects to attract and catch fish. Because the mass of the fly lure is in ...

and monitoring waste water. Many industries in Kaikorai Valley discharge waste water into the stream. The industrial area here is one of the few stretches of river with

esplanade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...

reserves (providing public access) along its banks. At Burnside the river turns west through Green Island, mainly in a channel lined with

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

alongside the

Dunedin Southern Motorway The Dunedin Southern Motorway is the main arterial route south from the South Island city of Dunedin, part of New Zealand's State Highway 1. Despite its name, only a portion of the route is officially classified as motorway. The route is the so ...

. Below Green Island, the stream is joined by major tributary Abbots Creek then resumes a southwest course, reaching the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

Waldronville Waldronville is a coastal settlement on the Pacific Ocean coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Established in the 1950s as a commuter settlement, it is located to the southwest of Dunedin city centre, and lies within the city's limits. Wal ...

, where its outflow is a

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

, the Kaikorai Estuary (also known as the Waldronville Lagoon or Kaikorai Lagoon). This lagoon is part of a research project aimed at establishing a national estuarine monitoring protocol. It is inhabited by

black swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large Anatidae, waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent ...

s, and

spoonbill Spoonbills are a genus, ''Platalea'', of large, long-legged wading birds. The spoonbills have a global distribution, being found on every continent except Antarctica. The genus name ''Platalea'' derives from Ancient Greek and means "broad", refe ...

s are also sometimes observed. Though only a short stream some in length, it has been important to the industrial history of Dunedin. Many local industries have used power from the stream, most notably the Roslyn Mills.

Flora and fauna

Native aquatic animals in the stream include

whitebait Whitebait is a collective term for the immature fry of fish, typically between long. Such young fish often travel together in schools along coasts, and move into estuaries and sometimes up rivers where they can be easily caught using fine-mes ...

freshwater crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. Taxonomically, they are members of the Superfamily (taxonomy), superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather- ...

(koura), giant kokopu, longfinned and shortfinned

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 families, 164 genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

s and freshwater

mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and Freshwater bivalve, freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other ...

s. In 1987, the

Otago Regional Council Otago Regional Council (ORC) is the regional council for Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. The council's principal office is Regional House on Stafford Street in Dunedin with 250–275 staff, with smaller offices in Queenstown and Ale ...

launched a streamscape restoration programme which included restoration of

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripar ...

vegetation and public access to parts of the stream. In 1996 the Dunedin City Council redeveloped its

sanitary landfill Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation systems ...

at Green Island to reduce

leachate A leachate is any liquid that, in the course of passing through matter, extracts soluble or suspended solids, or any other component of the material through which it has passed. Leachate is a widely used term in the environmental sciences wh ...

in the Kaikorai Stream, while in the same year the Dunedin Environment Centre began restoration work at four sites along the stream.

Pollution

In 1849 settler Samual Woolley described the stream as of the 'purest water."Paul Smith, Bill Dacker, Donald McPherson ''Water like Wine: a history of the Kaikorai Valley and Stream'' The Toitu Publishing Trust, 2002 - Kaikorai (Dunedin, N.Z.) In 1907 '' The Otago Daily Times'' described the Kaikorai Stream as "a long continuous sewer" and "a sanitary scandal." A century later, the paper described the stream as a " little battler". while an Otago Regional Councillor described this and other Dunedin streams' water quality as "basically crap." The pollution was, to a large extent, the result of the heavy industrialisation of the lower course of the stream, particularly around Burnside, which was the site of a

freezing works In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a meat ...

and cement factory. Other industries which used the streams waters in the early days of Dunedin's settlement included tanneries, stockyards, a flour mill,

Kempthorne Prosser Kempthorne Prosser & Co. Ltd, also known as the New Zealand Drug Company Ltd, was the leading drug and fertiliser manufacturer in New Zealand from 1869 until 1978. The company's full name was Kempthorne Prosser & Co.'s New Zealand Drug Co. Ltd, ...

's chemical plant, and the Otago Iron Rolling Mills. The water quality worsens as the stream gets closer to the sea.Simon McMillan, quoted in Joanna Norris 'Sustainable future council's dream for stream' ''

'' 2004-07-03

Macroinvertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordate subphylum V ...

s found in the estuary indicate the water is degraded, while more sensitive species exist near Kaikorai Valley College and the situation improves further upstream. Major pollution events include an accidental spill of

lime Lime most commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Bo ...

from the Dunedin City Council water treatment plant at Mount Grand in 2000 which "killed all aquatic life" including 1,000

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

for which the council was fined NZD14,000, and a discharge of

cooking oil Cooking oil (also known as edible oil) is a plant or animal liquid fat used in frying, baking, and other types of cooking. Oil allows higher cooking temperatures than water, making cooking faster and more flavorful, while likewise distributing h ...

from a

KFC KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's se ...

restaurant in 2011 for which

Restaurant Brands Restaurant Brands New Zealand Limited, trading as Restaurant Brands, is a New Zealand fast food company. Restaurant Brands currently operates and owns the master franchising rights for the Carl's Jr., KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell brands in Ne ...

was fined NZD15,000.Fast food giant fined over fat spill into city stream
on ''

'' website, 2012-04-05

Gallery

Balmacewen golf footbridge.JPG, A footbridge on the No 2 fairway at Balmacewen Golf Course: the stream's source Near Nairn St.jpg, Before and after: planting of the stream banks through Kaikorai Common Year 10 Kaikorai Valley College students measuring the cross sectional area of a transect across the stream to determine, with velocity data, the flow rate..JPG, Kaikorai Valley College students study the stream flow. Set up of measuring equipment.jpg, Measuring equipment used to study

hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydro ...

Discharge near Green Island Rugby Club.jpg, Discharge in Green Island Mt Grand overflow.jpg, Mt Grand overflow.

References

External links

Kaikorai Stream
website maintained by