Alexandra (Māori: ManuherikiaThe Cyclopedia of New Zealand: AlexandraTeara 1966: Alexandra or Areketanara) is a town in the Central Otago district of the South Island of New Zealand. It is on the banks of the Clutha River (at the confluence of the Manuherikia River), on State Highway 8, by road from Dunedin and south of Cromwell. The nearest towns to Alexandra via state highway 8 are Clyde seven kilometres to the northwest and Roxburgh forty kilometres to the south. State highway 85 also connects Alexandra to Omakau, Lauder, Oturehua, Ranfurly and on to Palmerston on the East Otago coast.

The town of Alexandra is home to people as of

History The town was founded during the Otago gold rush in the 1860s, and was named after Alexandra of Denmark by John Aitken Connell who surveyed the town. In a two-month period in 1862, two gold miners called Horatio Hartley and Christopher Reilly collected 34 kilograms of gold from the Cromwell Gorge, Hartley and Reilly travelled together to New Zealand after meeting in the Californian gold rush. They initially worked in secret to obtain as much gold as they could along the Cromwell gorge. In order to obtain the government's reward on offer for gold discoveries, they made the site public. This made the Clutha River and its tributaries famous for their gold. In a short time, 2000 miners had descended on Alexandra. Conditions were uninviting initially with a lack of food, equipment and wood. Many of the early miners were Chinese of Cantonese origin, with some suggesting Chinese made up as much as 50% of the mining population. During the goldrush days, a gold dredge named the Lady Molyneux captured 1234 ounces of gold in just one week. Goldmining the Clutha was a dangerous occupation. In 1863, there were 37 men who drowned in the Clutha river or its tributaries. Of these, 12 could not be named. In the 1870s, Chinese miners moved in to re-work claims that others had sold on. By 1889, most of the easy to access gold had been mined and leases were sold for virtually nothing. At this stage, stone fruit orchards gradually took over the local economy.When the river had run out of gold, the river banks were dredged. This was termed ‘paddock dredging’. This continued day and night between 1896 and 1924 and again between 1951 and 1963. The noise was ever present and loud and it also produced significant quantities of dust which plagued Alexandra. If the dredging hit hard rock, it interrupted the power supply to Alexandra and the lights of the entire town dimmed. The tailings from all the dredging now cover 170 hectares in a historic reserve known as the Earnscleugh Dredge Tailings.

In 1878, the Clutha river flooded many towns including Clyde and Alexandra. The Manuherikia valley "resembled an inland sea". As a result of this event, the Alexandra suspension bridge was constructed between 1879 and 1882 after the bridge at Clyde failed in the 1878 flood. The Otago Central Railway line from Dunedin into Central Otago reached Alexandra in December 1906.

Originally referred to as "Alexandra South" to distinguish it from a North Island town with the same name, the word "South" was dropped in 1867 after the North Island town was renamed to Pirongia.McLintock, A.H. An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand (1966): Alexandra It was known to miners of the day by several names: the "Lower Township", the "Junction Township", and "Manuherikia". (The "Upper Township" was Dunstan, now Clyde.)

Many orchards were destroyed in the 1980s as a result of construction, 10 km upstream, of the Clyde High Dam, which is the country's third largest hydroelectric power station. The railway line was closed after the completion of the Clyde Dam in 1990 and the lines were removed in 1990. In 2000, the Otago Central Rail Trail was opened allowing mountain bikers and walkers to traverse the rail corridor from Clyde through Alexandra and on to Middlemarch.

Geography

The town is a popular holiday destination mainly due to the hot and sunny climate during summer. There are many accommodation options in Alexandra.

Alexandra has had two bridges crossing the Clutha River, the current one opening in 1958.

Climate Alexandra experiences an oceanic climate bordering on a semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb/BSk).

Alexandra is one of the farthest towns from a coastline and experiences warm summers and cold winters compared to the rest of New Zealand, with summer temperatures that can reach the mid 30's °C (mid 90's °F) and winter lows that drop to around most years. Every year an average of 66 days will exceed and 92 nights will drop below . The hottest and coldest temperatures recorded in Alexandra (between 1971 and 2019) are (recorded on 5 February 2005 and 30 January 2018) and respectively. (from the NIWA website)

During times of high pressure, temperature inversions can form, keeping temperatures in Alexandra below freezing all day.

Alexandra is one of the driest places in the country, often recording fewer than of rain each year, the majority of which falls in the summer half of the year. The town held the New Zealand record for the lowest rainfall in one calendar year, recording just in 1964.

Demography

Alexandra's population was 1414 residents in 1951 and this had increased to 1823 residents in 1956 and then to 2292 residents in 1961.

Alexandra is described by Statistics New Zealand as a small urban area, and covers . It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. It is the seventh-largest urban area in Otago, and the second-largest urban area in the Central Otago District behind Cromwell.

Alexandra had a population of 5,472 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 669 people (13.9%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 645 people (13.4%) since the 2006 census. There were 2,331 households, comprising 2,661 males and 2,811 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.95 males per female, with 909 people (16.6%) aged under 15 years, 729 (13.3%) aged 15 to 29, 2,247 (41.1%) aged 30 to 64, and 1,590 (29.1%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 93.1% European/Pākehā, 9.8% Māori, 1.5% Pasifika, 2.5% Asian, and 1.4% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.

The percentage of people born overseas was 12.3, compared with 27.1% nationally.

Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 51.8% had no religion, 38.4% were Christian, 0.5% had Māori religious beliefs, 0.4% were Hindu, 0.2% were Muslim, 0.2% were Buddhist and 1.2% had other religions.

Of those at least 15 years old, 624 (13.7%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 1,083 (23.7%) people had no formal qualifications. 573 people (12.6%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 2,076 (45.5%) people were employed full-time, 810 (17.8%) were part-time, and 81 (1.8%) were unemployed.

+Individual statistical areasName Area (km2) Population Density (per km2) Households Median age Median income Alexandra North 4.60 2,856 621 1,173 45.8 years $29,500 Alexandra South 5.16 2,616 507 1,158 52.7 years $30,500 New Zealand 37.4 years $31,800

Economy

Viticulture Grape production is another major industry in the Central Otago Wine Region. The first plantings of grapes were in 1864. Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris are some of the varieties that are grown in the vicinity. Alexandra has a number of vineyards that potentially are the world's most southern. There are more than 25 vineyards in the vicinity of Alexandra. These include Three Miners Vineyard, Grasshopper Rock, Como Villa Estate, Rock'n'Pillar, Thyme Hill Vineyard, Leaning Rock Vineyard, Judge Rock, Immigrants Vineyard, Dunstan Road Wines, Alexandra Wine Company, Drumsara Wines, McArthur Ridge Vineyard and Perseverance Estate. A cycling trail called Pedal for Pinot gives visitors the opportunity to cycle around the cellar doors and sample a variety of local wines.

Horticulture Alexandra is the service centre for a significant stone-fruit industry, which is celebrated by a blossom festival in the town each spring. The first orchards planted provided fruit for the mining community. Now, nectarines, apricots, cherries, peaches, plums and apples are grown and sold for both New Zealand and export markets. Seasonal work picking fruit is available during the summer and many tourists and Pacific Islanders come to New Zealand to work in Alexandra.

Pastoral farming Sheep farming, particularly of merino sheep has occurred around Alexandra for many years. One of the original sheep runs was Galloway Station. This was established by Watson and Alexander Shennan in 1858.The brothers, from Scotland imported various breeds of sheep. In particular they acquired 15 merino rams and 27 merino ewes in 1861 from the King of Prussia's Potsdam Stud, which cost the massive sum at that time of £2000. The Galloway Station was sub-divided in 1916.

Airport The Alexandra Aerodrome is Alexandra's only airport. SPANZ, NAC and Mount Cook Airlines were main users of the airport till the 1980s. It is home to the Central Otago Flying Club, and gliding. Commercial passenger flights are no longer scheduled; Queenstown International Airport is the nearest facility for those.

Education

Primary schools

The Terrace School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students, with a roll of as of . It opened in 1965.

Alexandra School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students, with a roll of . It opened in 1865, and became a district high school in 1912. After the opening of Dunstan High and The Terrace School, Alexandra School resumed its function solely as a primary school.

St Gerard's School is a co-educational state-integrated Catholic primary school for Year 1 to 8 students, with a roll of . The school first opened in 1912.

Secondary schools

Dunstan High School is a co-educational state secondary school for Year 9 to 13 students, with a roll of as of . It opened in 1962.

Events

Blossom festival Alexandra is perhaps best known for the Alexandra Blossom Festival, an annual event that began in 1957. The Festival celebrates the advent of Spring in the Central Otago District as evidenced by the blooming of the fruit trees.

Great Easter bunny hunt Sixty rabbits were introduced by the Acclimatisation Society of Otago in 1866 and it only took five years for them to get established and to start eating the pasture land bare. They are prolific and a pest species around Alexandra. Each year at Easter, locals compete to shoot as many rabbits as possible to cull numbers. The event is run by the Alexandra Lions Club and it is also a great social occasion for the town. It has been run annually since the early 1990s. The event was cancelled in 2018 to allow the Otago Regional Council's programme to introduce the rabbit virus RHDV1 K5.Unfortunately the virus did not have the desired impact on rabbit numbers that was expected and there are more rabbits around than ever. Due to the dry conditions in 2019, the fire risk was deemed to be extreme and the event was cancelled.In 2020 it was again cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The bunny hunt took place in 2021 with over 10,000 rabbits shot. It was thought not to have a significant impact on the overall rabbit population around Alexandra.

Amenities

Alexandra swimming pool The Alexandra swimming pool complex is run by the Central Otago District Council. It was built in 2003 and replaced the previous swimming pool known as the Centennial Baths. The indoor complex includes a 25m lap pool, a learners' pool and a spa pool. An outdoor pool is also open during the summer months. The complex is located within Molyneux Park.

Ice skating rink