Thornbury is a small township on the east bank of the lower
Aparima River
The Aparima River, earlier known as Jacob's River, is one of the southward-flowing braided rivers of Southland, New Zealand.
Description
The Aparima has its headwaters in the Takitimu Mountains, south of Lake Te Anau, and flows south for before ...
, in western Southland,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
. It is approximately 10 km northeast of Riverton, and 31 km northwest of
Invercargill
Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...
. It is mainly a farming service community. Local small industries include machinery and transport/trucking companies, and a tannery.
The township was founded by pioneer settlers Matthew Instone and Robert Foster. It was named by Robert Foster after his wife's birthplace, the market town of
Thornbury, in
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
, England.
Originally Thornbury had grown around a railway junction. The railway line from Invercargill split at Thornbury, with one branch going around the coast to Riverton and Tuatapere/Orawia, and the
Wairio Branch
The Ohai Line, formerly known as the Ohai Industrial Line and previously the Wairio Branch and the Ohai Railway Board's line, is a 54.5 km branch line railway in Southland, New Zealand. It opened in 1882 and is one of two remaining branch ...
going inland to the coal mines at Nightcaps. In 1978 the
Tuatapere Branch
The Tuatapere Branch, including the Orawia Branch, was a branch line railway in Southland, New Zealand. Although the Tuatapere and Orawia Branches look like a single line, operationally they were considered separate lines. The first section o ...
was closed and was eventually removed.
Thornbury has one school for primary-age children, called Thornbury Schoo
The school celebrated in 2008 its 125th anniversary, the original school having opened on June 6, 1883.
{{Southland District
Populated places in Southland, New Zealand