Nightcaps, New Zealand

Nightcaps is a town in the Southland region of New Zealand's South Island. It is suggested that Nightcaps got its name either from the snow that is often seen on the Takitimu Mountains, or when early settlers observed fog on the hills known as the Nobbles.[3] State Highway 96 passes through Nightcaps as it runs between Ohai and Winton.[4] The town has a golf course and two primary schools that cater to students from Nightcaps, the surrounding rural area, and since the 2003 closure of its own school, Ohai.[5][6][7]

Nightcaps has a more industrial history than most Southland towns due to nearby coal deposits. A private railway was built from the terminus of the New Zealand Railways Department's Wairio Branch to Nightcaps to provide more efficient transport of coal; operated by the Nightcaps Coal Company, it opened not long after the state's railway reached Wairio in 1909. In 1918, a proposal was made to build another line to coal interests around Ohai, and the construction of this line was fiercely opposed by the Nightcaps Coal Company, fearing a loss of business. However, construction was approved in July 1919 with a deviation through Morley Village, considered part of Nightcaps. The first section of the line, including the part serving Morley Village, opened on 1 September 1920. Ohai was reached four years later, and in 1925, the Nightcaps Coal Company ceased to operate; they handed over their railway line to the Railways Department, who dismantled it in 1926 as the Ohai line was capable of catering for traffic from Nightcaps. The Ohai line continues to operate, primarily for the carriage of coal, and it is one of the few remaining rural branch lines out of many that once existed throughout New Zealand. It has been part of the national rail network since 1 June 1990.[8][9]

In 1980, the coal industry started to decline in Nightcaps, brought on by increasing automation of labour.[10] There is one significant coal mine operating in Nightcaps, the Takitimu Coal Mine which has been run by Bathurst Resources since 2011.[11] In 2021 Bathurst Resources announced that they are seeking to develop a new pit, the New Brighton project, which would add an additional 2–4 years of longevity to Bathurst's coal production in Southland.[12] Environmental organisations criticised this, with Forest and Bird requesting a judicial review stating that the Southern District Council did not adequately consider climate change in its approval of exploration for the expansion.[13][12] That said, the applicable legislation is the Crown Minerals Act 1991, which does not cover climate change issue.[14] The Takitimu mine currently prodices around 200,000 tonnes of coal a year for domestic customers, mostly in food processing, including for export. The New Zealand Government recognised the importance of coal mining for New Zealand food production during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, as an "essential service", and in 2021, as a "key utility".