Rai Valley

Rai Valley is a rural settlement in Marlborough, New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 6, 68 km (42 mi) northwest of Blenheim and 46 km (29 mi) east of Nelson. The Rai River runs past the locality to join the Pelorus River at the locality of Pelorus Bridge to the south.[1][2] At the 2018 census, the settlement had a population of 177.[3]

Rai Valley
Rai Valley
Coordinates: 41°13′39″S 173°34′59″E
CountryNew Zealand
RegionMarlborough
Population
 (2018 census)
 • Total177

The area may have been named for the Rangitāne chief, Rai kau moana.[4]

The locality supports dairy farming in the area,[5] with a dairy and cheese factory established in about 1909.[6]

History

The Valley was one of the last areas explored by Europeans in northern Marlborough. John Tinline discovered it while looking for a route to Nelson in January 1850.[7]

The Rai Valley was densely forested in the 19th century. A township grew up at Carluke, just to the west of Rai Valley locality, around a sawmill built by William Brownlee in 1907. About 100 people worked at the mill, and a light railway connected it to a port on the Pelorus River.[8][9]

Returned servicemen took up many local farms in 1919.[10]

Education

Rai Valley Area School is a coeducational composite (years 1–13) school with a decile rating of 6 and a roll of 94.[11]

Notes
  1. Peter Dowling (editor) (2004). Reed New Zealand Atlas. Reed Books. pp. map 59. ISBN 0-7900-0952-8.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  2. Roger Smith, GeographX (2005). The Geographic Atlas of New Zealand. Robbie Burton. pp. map 131. ISBN 1-877333-20-4.
  3. "Age and sex by ethnic group (grouped total response), for census usually resident population counts, 2006, 2013, and 2018 Censuses (urban rural areas)". nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  4. Marlborough Historical Society (2005). Click – A Captured Moment – Marlborough's Early Heritage. Blenheim: Marlborough Historical Society. p. 64. ISBN 0-473-10475-X.
  5. "Marlborough Region – Landscape Pattern". Encyclopedia of New Zealand (1966).
  6. Marlborough Historical Society, pp 84–85
  7. McIntosh 1940, pp. 116–117.
  8. McIntosh 1940, pp. 94, 204.
  9. "Brownlee & Co. Sawmilling Industry" (1). Bits & Pieces. September 1993. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. McIntosh 1940, p. 159.
  11. "Te Kete Ipurangi – Rai Valley Area School". Ministry of Education.

References
  • McIntosh, Alister; Redman, William Edward; Allen, William Raymond, eds. (1940). Marlborough: A Provincial History. Blenheim: Marlborough Provincial Historical Committee.
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