{{Short description|Settlement in Otago Region, New Zealand}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=March 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} [[Image:RaesJunctionNZ.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Raes Junction Hotel]]
'''Raes Junction''' is a small settlement in New Zealand, located at the intersection of [[State Highway 8 (New Zealand)|State Highways 8]] and [[State Highway 90 (New Zealand)|90]], in the lower [[South Island]]. The highways that meet at the junction are the main routes to the [[Clutha River|Clutha]] valley for travellers from [[Dunedin]] and [[Invercargill]] respectively.
Raes Junction is {{convert|62|km}} by road from [[Milton, New Zealand|Milton]], {{convert|67|km}} from [[Gore, New Zealand|Gore]], and {{convert|72|km}} from [[Alexandra, New Zealand|Alexandra]]. The junction lies {{convert|3|km}} to the south of the Clutha River. The nearest town of any significant size is [[Lawrence, New Zealand|Lawrence]], which is {{convert|25|km}} to the southeast.
The area was named after James Rae,<ref>{{citation|title=Up the Road. No II.|page=3|language=en|work=The Tuapeka Times|date=1879-11-29|access-date=2024-02-06|quote=Raes Junction takes its name from Mr James Rae, who owns the hotel property which is there situated widely known as the Junction Hotel.|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TT18791129.2.13}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives of New Zealand|language=en|date=1882|volume=2|publisher=New Zealand Parliament House of Representatives|access-date=2024-02-06|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3kdRAQAAMAAJ}}</ref> who operated ''J. Rae's Junction Hotel'' during the late-1800s. The name for the area later became just ''Rae's Junction'',<ref>{{citation|page=2|language=en|title=The Otago Daily Times|date=1879-03-13|access-date=2024-02-06|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT18790313.2.8}}</ref> and eventually the possessive apostrophe was lost. The area was also known as Bastings, after [[Horace Bastings]], a member of the [[Otago Provincial Council]].<ref>{{citation|title=NZGB Gazetteer - Raes Junction|language=en|work=Land Information New Zealand|access-date=2024-02-06|url=https://gazetteer.linz.govt.nz/place/37701}}</ref>
Although the settlement itself is little more than a farming and horticultural community, its location at this mid-way junction is thus of considerable regional importance,{{citation needed|date=February 2024}} as is the larger settlement of [[Beaumont, New Zealand|Beaumont]], some six kilometres to the southeast. The Raes Junction school opened in around 1884<ref>{{citation|title=Beaumont School Election.|page=3|language=en|work=The Tuapeka Times|date=1884-02-02|access-date=2024-02-06|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TT18840202.2.10}}</ref> and closed in 1927.<ref>{{citation|title=Education board. Monthly meeting.|page=3|language=en|work=[[Otago Daily Times]] |date=1927-12-08|access-date=2024-02-06|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19271208.2.7}}</ref>
==Notable people== * [[Mary Rae]] – nurse<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/trust-fund-helping-nurses-century |title=Trust fund helping nurses for a century |first=Rhys |last=Chamberlain |date=18 October 2015 |work=[[Otago Daily Times]] |access-date=6 February 2024}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Coord|45|47|S|169|28|E|region:NZ_type:city|display=title}} {{Central Otago}}
[[Category:Populated places in Otago]]
{{Otago-geo-stub}}