13 Facts About Otago

Otago is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council.

Name "Otago" is the local southern Maori dialect pronunciation of "Otakou", the name of the Maori village near the entrance to Otago Harbour.

Kaitangata in South Otago is a prominent source of coal.

Some parts of the area originally covered by Otago Province are now administered by either Canterbury Regional Council or Southland Regional Council.

Otago Province was the whole of New Zealand from the Waitaki River south, including Stewart Island and the sub-Antarctic islands.

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New Zealand's first university, the University of Otago, was founded in 1869 as the provincial university in Dunedin.

Two in Otago were named after the Scottish independence heroes Wallace and Bruce.

Country's fourth-longest river, the Taieri, has both its source and outflow in Otago, rising from rough hill country and following a broad horseshoe-shaped path, north, then east, and finally southeast, before reaching the Pacific Ocean.

Central Otago's climate is the closest approximation to a continental climate anywhere in New Zealand.

Summers can be hot, with temperatures often approaching or exceeding 30 degrees Celsius; winters, by contrast, are often bitterly cold – the township of Ranfurly in Central Otago holds the New Zealand record for lowest temperature with a reading of -25.

Since 2008 the rest of Otago has been divided between the large rural electorates of Waitaki, which includes some of the neighbouring Canterbury Region, and Clutha-Southland, which includes most of the rural part of the neighbouring Southland Region.

The earlier Otago electorate existed from 1978 to 2008, when it was split and merged into Waitaki and Clutha-Southland.

Under the Maori electorates system, Otago is part of the large Te Tai Tonga electorate, which covers the entire South Island and surrounding islands, and is currently held by Labour Party MP Rino Tirikatene.