Abstract
One of the essential factors in historical geography must be that a period of time is marked by a distinctive change in the landscape or occupance pattern of the area. In contrast to the approach an historian may take, periods are not marked by events but always by change in the spacial patterns.
It is these principles which have been applied in this historical geography of the Waikaka Valley. Indeed, this thesis is a detailed study of the changing landscape, through a number of periods and for a widely varying number of reasons, of a compact rural area. It is not claimed that the Waikaka Valley is typical of the broader Southland or Otago rural areas; in many ways it is unique, especially for the interrelated cotemporaneous exploitation of gold deposits, coal resources, and soil fertility late last century and early in this.