Waimate


 * The article is about the town in the South Island, New Zealand. For the District see Waimate District.  For the Waimate Mission Station in the North Island see Te Waimate mission.

Waimate is a town in the Waimate District in the South Island of New Zealand. It is 46 km south-west of Timaru in South Canterbury, 20 km north of the Waitaki River.

The population of Waimate District at the 2006 census was 7,206 people. Waimate has the fewest Maori people per district in New Zealand. It has an area of 3,582.19 square kilometres.

Waimate is well-known locally for its population of Bennett's wallabies. These marsupials were introduced from Australia and now live in the wild in the countryside surrounding the town.

History
In the five or six centuries before European colonization, the district was sparsely occupied by Maori people.

From 1877 until 1966, Waimate was served by the Waimate Branch, a branch line railway that connected with the Main South Line some seven kilometres east in Studholme. For roughly seventy years ending in 1953, the line ran beyond Waimate to Waihao Downs. When the branch line was closed on 31 March 1966, Waimate became the first major town in New Zealand to lose its railway connection.

Economy
Like much of rural New Zealand, Waimate suffered from an economic downturn in the 1980s, with the closure of the dairy factory and a number of sawmills. For the last decade of the 20th century the biggest employers in the district were two furniture manufacturers, a vegetable processing plant and a factory making French fries and other potato products at Makikihi. All but the latter closed within the first few years of the 21st century. However, a newly developed large scale sawmill and the development of a large milk powder factory, coupled with the wealth of dairy farms and the nationwide real estate bubble of 2003-2007, saw a renewed confidence in Waimate.



Zealandia
Just off the main street is a statue of Zealandia (personification) a female allegorical representation of New Zealand in much the same way as Britannia represents Great Britain. Only two Zealandia statues exist in the whole country; the other is at Palmerston, Otago. Both were erected as Boer War memorials.

Education in town and district
Further Information: List of schools in Canterbury, New Zealand


 * Pre-schools
 * Waimate Free Kindergarten
 * Waimate Childcare Centre
 * Waimate Playcentre


 * Primary Schools
 * Waimate Main School
 * Glenavy School
 * Morven School
 * Makikihi School
 * St Patrick's School
 * Waihaorunga School
 * Waihao Downs School
 * Waimate Centennial School
 * Waituna Creek School
 * St Andrews School


 * Secondary Schools
 * Waimate High School

Notable people from Waimate

 * Norman Kirk, 29th Prime Minister of New Zealand, 1972-1974.
 * A. M. Hamilton, notable for building the Hamilton Road through Kurdistan and designing the Callender-Hamilton bridge system.
 * Eric Batchelor, most highly decorated Commonwealth NCO of World War II.
 * Major General Howard Kippenberger officer commanding New Zealand forces in North Africa during World War II. Though he was not born in Waimate, his father bought a farm near there when he was young and he spent much of his early childhood there.right|480px|January 1923, unveiling of memorial on a corner of Seddon Square in Waimate
 * Margaret Barnet Cruikshank (1873-1918), the second woman to graduate in Medicine in New Zealand and the first New Zealand woman to register and practise as a General Practitioner. Although born further south in Palmerston, North Otago, she spent her professional career in Waimate, and her achievement is celebrated with a statue of her in the middle of the town. See also photo description at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cruickshank_memorial,_1923.jpg.

Notable places

 * St. Augustine's Anglican Church, located on John Street in Waimate, was designed in 1872 by Benjamin Mountfort.
 * St Patrick's Catholic Church, located on Timaru Rd was designed in 1908 by Frank Petre.
 * Waimate Museum, located in Shearman St, was designed in 1878 by P.M.F. Burrows
 * Waimate White Horse

Rugby

 * Waimate Rugby Football Club] has teams competing in the South Canterbury rugby competitions. The club is affiliated with the South Canterbury Rugby Football Union.

Golf

 * Waimate Golf Club

Debating

 * Every year the University of Otago and University of Canterbury hold the Debating tournament known as Claytons. It is a debating tournament for beginning debaters and first years at the respective Universities. It was previously held annually in either Christchurch or Waimate, but has in recent years been held solely in Waimate.

Events

 * March Hare Motorcycle Rally, Annually, first weekend of March
 * Waimate 50 Street Race, October
 * Waimate Strawberry Fare Annual second weekend in December. www.waimate.org.nz / events
 * Waimate Shears October
 * Waimate Rodeo, Annually 27 December
 * Claytons Debating Tournament, Annually in July–August
 * Waimate Museum Bookarama, Annually at Labour Weekend www.waimate.org.nz / attractions
 * Waimate Edwardian Heritage Celebrations Annually second weekend in March www.waimate.org.nz / events

Movies and film

 * The Waimate Conspiracy (2006) was filmed in Waimate.

Sister cities

 * 🇫🇷 Bourail, France
 * 🇺🇸 Milton-Freewater, USA