Lowther is a locality in

Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Re ...

, New Zealand, at the south-eastern corner of the Five Rivers Plain. It lies on , 8 km (5 miles) north of Lumsden. To its east rises Lowther Peak (912 m), named by

John Turnbull Thomson John Turnbull Thomson (10 August 1821 – 16 October 1884) was a British civil engineer and artist who played an instrumental role in the development of the early infrastructure of nineteenth-century Singapore and New Zealand. He lived the last 2 ...

, from which the name of the locality comes. Thomson had named the peak after local runholder Thomas Lowther Barnhill. His mother's family, the Lowthers, came from the Strabane area of

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. Beside State Highway 6 is a memorial cairn commemorating the Battle of Waitaramea. Around 1725, Kaweriri led a large party of

Ngāi Tahu Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim), Mount Mahanga and Kahurangi Point ...

from Canterbury with the intention of destroying the

Kāti Māmoe Kāti Māmoe (also spelled Ngāti Māmoe but not by the tribe themselves) is a historic Māori iwi. Originally from the Hastings area, they moved in the 16th century to the South Island which at the time was already occupied by the Waitaha. ...

of Otago and Southland. In an ensuing engagement with a smaller group of Kāti Māmoe the leader of the latter, Tutemakohu, managed to kill Kaweriri, before he and his party escaped into fog. Having also lost other leaders in the fight the Ngāi Tahu force retreated back home. The township of Lowther was surveyed by J. A. McArthur in 1863. A police station and lock-up were established there, and later a courthouse was built. The first policeman in the district was Constable Malone. Two hotels were established in the township, the last closing after flood damage in 1912. The Kingston Branch Railway opened to Lowther, where a siding was built, on 15 January 1877,''Southland Times'', 15 Jan 1877, p.2 and for a year it was the temporary terminus of the line. With the opening of the railway Lumsden became the commercial centre of the district and Lowther declined in importance. In 1879 the police station, lock-up and court were all shifted to Lumsden. The lock-up has been restored and has been placed next to Lumsden's old railway station. The railway closed on 26 November 1979. The Around the Mountains Cycle Trail now follows the old trackline.

References

{{Southland District Populated places in Southland, New Zealand