:Raes Junction

{{Short description|Settlement in Otago Region, New Zealand}}

{{Use New Zealand English|date=March 2024}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}

Image:RaesJunctionNZ.jpg

Raes Junction is a small settlement in New Zealand, located at the intersection of State Highways 8 and 90, in the lower South Island. The highways that meet at the junction are the main routes to the Clutha valley for travellers from Dunedin and Invercargill respectively.

Raes Junction is {{convert|62|km}} by road from Milton, {{convert|67|km}} from Gore, and {{convert|72|km}} from Alexandra. The junction lies {{convert|3|km}} to the south of the Clutha River. The nearest town of any significant size is Lawrence, which is {{convert|25|km}} to the southeast.

The area was named after James Rae,{{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}}{{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}} who operated J. Rae's Junction Hotel during the late-1800s. The name for the area later became just Rae's Junction,{{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}} and eventually the possessive apostrophe was lost. The area was also known as Bastings, after Horace Bastings, a member of the Otago Provincial Council.{{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}}

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, some six kilometres to the southeast. The Raes Junction school opened in around 1884{{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}} and closed in 1927.{{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}}