Lake Coleridge: the Power, the People, the Land

This work traces the life of a cold, clean and very deep lake in the foothills of the southern Alps, some 100km from Christchurch. It tells of the swift rivers which rush by and are diverted into it, the hills and mountains around it, and the animals and plant life in and around the lake. People came into this country. They hunted the moa, found passes through the mountains, farmed sheep and generated electricity from the plentiful water. People changed the face of the land forever. They overcame great difficulties in building an electric power station on an unstable foundation and in extreme weather conditions, and in supplying electricity to meet an ever-increasing demand. They created a sheltered and beautiful place where had been bleek treeless hillside. Their village became a focus for the people who lived and played, worked and died here, contending first with isolation and later with the political and social changes of recent years. This book is a sweeping history of a unique part of New Zealand, from the geological upheavals of the distant past to the year 2000.