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Ninety Mile Beach, Canterbury
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TitleNinety Mile Beach, Canterbury
DescriptionNinety Mile Beach, Canterbury is not to be confused with the beach in Northland of the same name. This 1950 image formed part of a 1950 essay called 'An Eroding Coastline' by noted geologist R. Speight in Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Ninety Mile Beach stretches from the outlet of Te Waihora Lake Ellesmere at Taumutu to the mouth of the Rangitata River in South Canterbury.
'At sunset on 9 January 1844, Bishop George Augustus Selwyn stood atop the south eastern hills of Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū (Banks Peninsula) and gazed down upon the magnificent view of the vast plains to the south. He noted the apparently interminable line of the “ninety miles beach” which extended in a continuous line of uniform shingle, unbroken by headland or bay, all the way to the distant hills of Tīmaru in the south. As Selwyn and other nineteenth century Pākehā travellers learned, this ‘interminable line’ was part of a key travel route for Ngāi Tahu, a Māori ‘State Highway One’ that extended between lakes Wairewa in the north and Waitarakao in the south.'
Quote from Te Karaka, July 17, 2014, on the Ngāi Tahu website (https://ngaitahu.iwi.nz/)Date1950
DescriptionNinety Mile Beach, Canterbury is not to be confused with the beach in Northland of the same name. This 1950 image formed part of a 1950 essay called 'An Eroding Coastline' by noted geologist R. Speight in Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand.Ninety Mile Beach stretches from the outlet of Te Waihora Lake Ellesmere at Taumutu to the mouth of the Rangitata River in South Canterbury.
'At sunset on 9 January 1844, Bishop George Augustus Selwyn stood atop the south eastern hills of Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū (Banks Peninsula) and gazed down upon the magnificent view of the vast plains to the south. He noted the apparently interminable line of the “ninety miles beach” which extended in a continuous line of uniform shingle, unbroken by headland or bay, all the way to the distant hills of Tīmaru in the south. As Selwyn and other nineteenth century Pākehā travellers learned, this ‘interminable line’ was part of a key travel route for Ngāi Tahu, a Māori ‘State Highway One’ that extended between lakes Wairewa in the north and Waitarakao in the south.'
Quote from Te Karaka, July 17, 2014, on the Ngāi Tahu website (https://ngaitahu.iwi.nz/)
Date1950Connections
ImageA claim near the Rakaia River in the Ninety Mile Beach gold dredging area owned by Lightband and Hills More InformationAn Eroding Coastline by R. Speight in Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 78, 1950 p. 3Read more about Kā ara tūpuna Waitarakao to Wairewa: the ninety mile beach
More InformationAn Eroding Coastline by R. Speight in Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 78, 1950 p. 3Read more about Kā ara tūpuna Waitarakao to Wairewa: the ninety mile beachAttribution
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Ninety Mile Beach, Canterbury (1950). Selwyn Stories, accessed 25/05/2026, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/6096