Ashburton (pop. 33,423) is a district in the South Island of New Zealand. Ashburton lies about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Christchurch. Ashburton traditionally has been known as the chief town in the central part of Canterbury. It is the market center of a prosperous sheep-farming and grain-growing area.
Settlers from the United Kingdom established a settlement at Ashburton in about 1856. They called their settlement Turtons, after the owner of the first hotel in the area. Later, they renamed the settlement after Lord Ashburton, one of the earliest supporters of the Canterbury Association, a group whose aim was to establish a Church of England settlement in New Zealand.
See also Christchurch.
