Dobson, New Zealand

The town is named for the surveyor George Dobson, the second son of Edward Dobson and brother of Arthur Dudley Dobson, who was murdered at this site in 1866. He was killed in a bungled robbery by the Burgess gang, who had mistaken him for a gold buyer carrying gold from the nearby Arnold goldfield. A monument now stands where George Dobson was murdered. Dobson was the site of one of the West Coast's many coal mines. The Dobson mine was opened in 1919, and closed in 1968. It was the site of one of the country's worst mining disasters. Nine men were killed in an explosion at the mine in 1926. A hydroelectric dam was proposed for the area by TrustPower in 1999 but it failed to secure access to public land that needed to be flooded for the scheme. In 2003 Nick Smith, who was an Opposition MP at the time, attempted to remove the reserve status from the land needed for the dam reservoir in order to allow the scheme to go ahead, but was unsuccessful. ==Demographics==

Dobson and Taylorville are defined by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement and cover . They had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. Dobson and Taylorville are part of the larger Dobson statistical area. Before the 2023 census, Dobson and Taylorville had a smaller boundary, covering . Dobson statistical area Dobson statistical area covers ==Education==

Paparoa Range School is a coeducational full primary (years 1–8) school with a decile rating of 3 and a roll of students as of The school was established in 2005 when Blackball, Kaiata, Stillwater and Brunnerton Primary Schools were merged onto the Brunnerton Primary School site. ==References==