Росс: История золотодобывающего городка Новой Зеландии.

the similarly named region of Antarctica
Town in the West Coast Region of New Zealand

Ross was established in the 1860s, during the West Coast Gold Rush, and became an important centre for miners. At its largest, the town had around 2,500 inhabitants, but the population declined after local goldfields were depleted in the early 1870s. Quartz was occasionally mined on Mount Greenland, a nearby ridge, but little more gold was found until two miners discovered a large 3.1 kilogram nugget in 1909, which was later named the "Honourable Roddy Nugget", after Roderick McKenzie, the Minister for Mines at the time. From 1872 to the early 1900s a number of Chinese lived and worked in Ross, and a Chinese Miners' Memorial Garden on the shore of Ross Lake commemorates them. The settlement was originally called Jones Flat, but was also sometimes known as Georgetown and Totara. It was given the name Rosstown, which was shortened to Ross in about 1866, after George Ross, who was the Canterbury Provincial Council's treasurer at the time of the naming.

Following the abolition of Westland Province in 1876, Ross became part of Westland County. In 1878, Ross Borough was formed, with its own borough council and mayor, and remained in existence until 1972, when it merged back into Westland County. Since the local government reforms of 1989, Ross has been part of Westland District.

The town's economy is based around farming and forestry; a large open cut mine operated directly adjacent to the town since 1988, and the large pit it created was filled with water in the 2000s to create Ross Lake. a volunteer fire brigade and a police station. Beside Ross Lake is the Chinese Miners' Memorial Garden, created over a two year period by the Ross volunteer group Westland Regional Environment Incorporated Society (WRENIS) led by Biddy Manera, at a cost of $180,000. In winter 2020 a slip in Jones Creek blocked the outlet of the lake, and the pavilion was flooded and thousands of dollars worth of trees and shrubs were killed. After two rounds of public consultation involving the Department of Conservation, the Westland District Council, and the Ross Community society, all parties agreed in March 2021 to lower the lake levels and prevent future flooding, with the District Council covering the cost of the resource consent.

Ross School is the sole school in the town. It is a coeducational contributing (year 1–6) primary school with a roll of students as of The school opened in 1875 and celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2000. The nearest intermediate and secondary school (year 7–13) is Westland High School in Hokitika.

State Highway 6 passes through the town, connecting it in the north to Hokitika and south to Hari Hari and Franz Josef. Intercity Coaches provides a bus service tor Ross with daily services to both Fox Glacier and Greymouth. Ross is at the southern end of the West Coast Wilderness Trail, a cycle route with its northern end at Greymouth. A branch line railway known as the Ross Branch was extended from Ruatapu to Ross on 1 April 1909, serving as the southern terminus of the line owned by the New Zealand Railways Department. However, a lengthy privately owned bush tramway ran south from the railway station to serve logging interests near Lake Ianthe and a railway extension from Ross through the Haast Pass to connect with the Otago Central Railway was proposed in the early 20th century, but did not eventuate. From the 1940s until 9 October 1962, a Vulcan railcar service operated directly from Christchurch to Ross twice a day. A lack of traffic and expensive maintenance costs meant the line was closed beyond Hokitika on 24 November 1980. Much of the old track bed between Ruatapu and Hokitika can be driven as it serves as an access road for local farmers, and a disused truss bridge still stands north of Ross.