Ashburton (Māori: Hakatere) is a large town in the Canterbury Region, on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand.

The 100 acres of land that was identified for the Domain was a "miserable wildness" of spear grass, broom, and tussock.

[8] The Canterbury provincial government granted 20,000 pounds to develop roads in the district in 1873 and in 1874 the railway reached Ashburton.

A man who had previously been trespassed from the Ashburton Work and Income office arrived at the premises with a shotgun and murdered two front counter workers.

[13][14] In December 2016, the Ministry for Social Development was convicted of breaching workplace safety legislation in relation to the incident.

[20] In April 2021, a contract was signed to start a $42 million build of a new library and civic centre for Ashburton.

However, since it lies further inland at a higher altitude to Christchurch, Ashburton experiences a greater range of temperatures.

[27] Ashburton occasionally sees snowfall, with its heaviest being 38 centimetres (15 in) on 12 June 2006,[28] conversely it is tied with Timaru for New Zealand's fourth-highest temperature on record, reaching 41.3 °C (106.3 °F) on 7 February 1973.

[29] The Ashburton River / Hakatere flows across Mid Canterbury from the Southern Alps to the Pacific Ocean.

[33] In part to rectify the limitations imposed by the lack of recreational waterways, Lake Hood was constructed just south-east of Tinwald.

[34] Ashburton is described by Statistics New Zealand as a medium urban area, and covers 39.99 km2 (15.44 sq mi).

[48] Ashburton lies in the middle of the fertile alluvial Canterbury Plains which permits agricultural activity such as dairying, provided irrigation is used.

[49] The Ashburton District Council has a 40% holding in the company that manages the Rangitata Diversion Race.

[50] This scheme diverts water from the Rangitata and South Ashburton rivers into a canal that provides irrigation to large parts of the district.

A vegetable processing factory owned by Talley's is located on the northern outskirts of Ashburton.

The factory was built in 1996 to take advantage of the good soils and irrigation of the Ashburton district.

[52] Talley's purchased the site in 2020 and had plans to use it to support vegetable production and use the cool stores for their frozen produce.

Several of the 40-plus companies are national companies based outside the district, such as Fonterra, Foodstuffs and Silver Fern Farms (meat processing), but many were local cooperatives, such as the Ashburton Trading Society (farm supplies) and Electricity Ashburton (electricity distribution).

[54] The Ashburton Museum and Art Gallery share one building, which sits on State Highway 1, just outside the centre of town.

[64] The Ashburton clock tower was built in 1976 by Bradford Construction Ltd and was designed by Warren and Mahoney Architects.

The clock tower has won awards including for “Enduring Architecture” in 2004 from the New Zealand Institute of Architects.

The MSA is a member of the NZ Chartered Clubs Association and is located in the central town.

[80] Mid Canterbury have won: Mount Hutt is the nearest ski field, located inland just past Methven.

[26] The station opened on 24 August 1874[85] and the refreshment room was converted from table- to counter-service to save staff and increase the speed of service in 1944.

The service ceased on 10 February 2002, but the station is still used for freight, as some barley continues to be sent by train to maltings at Marton.

[89] Funding from the New Zealand government and the Ashburton District Council for a new rail freight hub was provided in October 2021.

[90][91] State Highway 1 runs through the centre of Ashburton and provides the main road connection between Christchurch and Dunedin.

[96] The Ashburton District Council has been trying to obtain funding from Waka Kotahi (New Zealand Transport Agency) for a second bridge for local traffic and to provide more resilience to the road network.

[97][98] State Highway 77 starts in Ashburton and heads towards Methven, and then through the Rakaia gorge and on to Darfield.

Radio Port FM is based in Timaru; Newstalk ZB and Classic Hits ZEFM are re-broadcast from other out-of-town stations.