Ranfurly, New Zealand

Ranfurly
Urban Area	Population	1,060 (2006)
Territorial Authority	Name	Central Otago District Council (see Alexandra)
	Population	16,950 (2006 est.)
	Extent	Includes the towns of Alexandra Clyde, Cromwell, Roxburgh, and Ranfurly
Regional Council	Name	Otago

Ranfurly is the largest settlement in the Maniototo district of Otago, New Zealand. Located 110 kilometres north of Dunedin, it lies in dry rough country at a moderately high altitude (around 600 metres above sea level) close to a small tributary of the Taieri River. It is a service town for the local farming community. The town was formerly known as Eweburn, one of the "farmyard" names bestowed by former Otago Chief Surveyor John Turnbull Thomson on many small streams and locations in the district. The modern name is for the Fifth Earl of Ranfurly, who was Governor-General of New Zealand at the time of the completion of the Otago Central Railway.

Climate

Central Otago in general, and the Maniototo in particular, has one of New Zealand's very few continental climate zones, with large daily and seasonal temperature extremes. Summers and winters are both fierce: temperatures in the high 30s Celsius are not uncommon in summer, and the lowest temperature on record in New Zealand (in excess of -20°C) was at Ophir, some 40 kilometres to the west of Ranfurly. Heavy frosts are common throughout winter.

The town is sheltered from the prevailing rain patterns by the mountains to the west. The Nor'wester foehn wind is thus a frequent weather pattern, and annual rainfall is only in the region of 300-400mm.

History

During the Central Otago goldrush of the 1860s, several important deposits of the precious metal were found near Ranfurly, notably at Kyeburn and Naseby, close to the southwestern face of the Kakanui Range of mountains.

Ranfurly grew at the expense of Naseby as the gold rush declined, and the arrival of the Railway in the town in 1898 spurred on the town's growth. The rail line was closed in 1989 and the track removed, but its course is now used for a major walking and cycling route, the Otago Central Rail Trail, which attracts tourists to the town. The former railway station is now a museum and display centre.

The town became an important service town for the rural community, experiencing a building boom in the 1930s, and is recognised for the large proportion of rural Art Deco buildings which have been preserved locally. An annual festival commemorating the town's Art deco heritage is held each February. The town's current population is around 1000.

In more recent times, the nearby Ida Valley was used as one of the locations for Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movies, representing the wide plains of Rohan.

port

Ranfurly lies close to the heart of New Zealand's curling-playing region, and the local club have represented New Zealand at the 1999, 2004, and 2005 World Championships (finishing tenth, seventh and eighth respectively), as well as providing members for the New Zealand 2006 Winter Olympics curling team.

Surprisingly for such a small town, Ranfurly has also been the birthplace of several recent members of the New Zealand women's (field) hockey team.

Education

*Maniototo Area School [http://www.mas.school.nz]

Famous Ranfurly people

*Sean Becker - curler
*Shane Collins - field hockey player
*Robert Logan - military leader and politician
*Warren McSkimming - cricketer
*Peter Petherick - cricketer and lawn bowls player
*Mandy Smith - field hockey player
*Isobel Thomson - field hockey player

External links

* [http://www.maniototo.co.nz/ranfurly.htm Maniototo.co.nz]
* [http://www.ruralartdeco.co.nz/ Rural art deco]