Ashburton Museum in Ashburton, Canterbury, New Zealand | Museum

Ashburton Museum Permanent Exhibits
Border Dyke Irrigation
This method involves a network of small open races through which water is distributed around the farm. These races contain simple concrete dams with flat metal gates on them, which when closed, cause water to pond behind the dam.
It then flows over a group of sills in the race bank, and down prepared strips of land each about 200 metres long by 12 metres wide, slightly mounded on each side on the water is confined within the borders and flows evenly along the length of the strip.
As each group of strips is watered the next gate up stream closes, the water flows over the next group of sills, and so on until the required area has been watered.
In the past, the gates had to be closed by hand, but now it is possible to set up the farm for 24 hours or more of automatic watering, using either alarm clock releases on the gates or water sensors in the paddocks set to detect the approaching water and release the next gate.
For further information about the birth of irrigation in Mid-Canterbury, the booklet, "Water Put To Work A History of Rangitata Diversion Race" is available from the Ashburton Museum office for $10.00.
The Ashburton Museum regularly features a range of exhibitions depicting local, national and international themes and cultural exhibits.
The Ashburton Museum has extensive local records available to researchers. These include genealogical records, photographic archives, and local history information.