Clifton Recreation Reserve

The Clifton Recreation Reserve covers an impressive 45 hectares on a low-lying spit across the Motupipi Estuary, west of Pohara in Golden Bay.

Golf Course

The Reserve is home to the nine-hole Takaka Golf Course and has been since 1962, when the land was leased to the Club by the Department of Lands and Survey. The part of the reserve that the course was built on was known locally as the Cherry Island Reserve because of the masses of wild cherry trees that grew there. The Rototai end of the golf course had been favoured by local Maori as a great spot to grow potatoes and kumara. It was also a popular camping place for families in the 1930's.  However all that changed once the Takaka Golf Club secured its lease. The Club set about clearing 36 hectares of gorse lupin and manuka scrub. The pioneering spirit and dedication of Takaka Golf Club members over the years means the course is now in excellent grass and offers very good playing conditions.

Clifton Cemetery

Also making up part of the reserve is the historic Clifton Cemetery, a site of great significance to both Maori and Pakeha. It was the area's local importance that meant it was vested in Council as a Recreation Reserve in 1991.The land for the hospital cemetery, as it was meant to become, was set aside when Clifton, then known as Waiwera, was surveyed in 1842.

History

Despite all the surveying Clifton never did blossom into a town but the cemetery was put to use. It is estimated that upwards of 150 people are buried there but many of the graves are unmarked. Some of these unmarked graves are for local Maori, some for the Europeans. Wateno, Rawiri, Mitchell, Raharon and Elliot are just a few of the local families whose ancestors were the earliest arrivals at the cemetery.  The oldest marked headstone in the Clifton Cemetery is that of Agnes Gibson who died 14 February 1866.