Otanomomo is a locality in the

South Otago South Otago lies in the south east of the South Island of New Zealand. As the name suggests, it forms the southernmost part of the geographical region of Otago. The exact definition of the area designated as South Otago is imprecise, as the area is ...

region of New Zealand's

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

. It is on the banks of the

Koau Branch The Koau and Matau Rivers, also called the Koau and Matau Branches, are the two distributary river, distributaries of New Zealand's Clutha River. The two distributaries split immediately to the southeast of the town of Balclutha, New Zealand, Balclu ...

of the

Clutha River The Clutha River (, officially gazetted as Clutha River / ) is the second longest river in New Zealand and the longest in the South Island. It flows south-southeast through Central and South Otago from Lake Wānaka in the Southern Alps to the P ...

, roughly six kilometres south of Balclutha. Nearby settlements include Finegand to the north, Paretai, Puerua, and Romahapa to the south, and Waitepeka to the west.

Education

polytechnic Polytechnic is most commonly used to refer to schools, colleges, or universities that qualify as an institute of technology or vocational university also sometimes called universities of applied sciences. Polytechnic may also refer to: Educatio ...

is located in Otanomomo. Named

Telford Rural Polytechnic The Telford campus of the Southern Institute of Technology is a public Tertiary Education Institution. Its campus is in Otanomomo, just south of Balclutha, South Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. In 2019 Telford became a faculty of th ...

, it is based on land donated by the Telfords, an early pioneering family in the area.

Environment

A 37

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

reserve, Otanomomo Scientific Reserve, is located in the Otanomomo area. It protects the remnants of a larger

podocarp Podocarpaceae is a large family of mainly Southern Hemisphere conifers, known in English as podocarps, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs.James E. Eckenwalder. 2009. ''Conifers of the World''. Portland, Oregon: Timber Pre ...

coastal forest and a number of rare species of plants. In the early 2000s, the

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...

and volunteers from community groups conducted a programme to eliminate weeds in the reserve and encourage the growth of native foliage. Protective works along the banks of the Clutha River have also been undertaken. Works undertaken at the start of the 1920s led to special legislation to allow the Otanomomo River Board to pay back the costs to the Ministry of Works.

Transport

Otanomomo is located on the

Southern Scenic Route The Southern Scenic Route is a tourist highway in New Zealand linking Queenstown, Fiordland, Te Anau and the iconic Milford Road to Dunedin via, Riverton, Invercargill and The Catlins. An Australian travel magazine labelled it "one of the ...

road, which joins

State Highway 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbere ...

in Balclutha. On 15 December 1885, the first section of the

Catlins River Branch The Catlins River Branch was a branch line railway that formed part of New Zealand's Rail transport in New Zealand, national rail network. It ran through the Catlins region in southwestern Otago and was built in sections between 1879 and 1915. ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

opened through Otanomomo. This

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industri ...

ultimately terminated in

Tahakopa Tahakopa is a small settlement in The Catlins, an area of the southern South Island of New Zealand. It is located 25 kilometres northeast of Waikawa on the Tahakopa River. On 17 February 1915, Tahakopa became the terminus of the Catlins River ...

, with the Otanomomo station 6.46 km from the junction with the

Main South Line The Main South Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, is a railway line that runs north and south from Lyttelton in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the South Island to Inverca ...

in Balclutha. At its peak in the first half of the 20th century, up to sixteen trains per week would pass through Otanomomo, primarily

mixed train A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. Although common in the early days of railways, by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. Typically, servic ...

s. However, the line's profitability declined after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and it closed on 27 February 1971. At the site of the former Otanomomo station, a loading bank remains in place, and the line's old

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...

can be seen in the surrounding area.David Leitch and Brian Scott, ''Exploring New Zealand's Ghost Railways'' (Wellington: Grantham House, 1998

995 Year 995 (Roman numerals, CMXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * 17 May - Fujiwara no Michitaka (imperial regent) dies. * 3 June: Fujiwara no ...

, 103-4.

References

{{Clutha District Populated places in Otago