Waitahuna is a small rural hamlet in the

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

region of

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 ...

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 from

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

. In the 19th century, the town thrived after the discovery of gold. The Waitahuna Gully Miner's Monument commemorates this discovery and the miners who lived in the area. Another notable man-made feature is the Waitahuna River Suspension Bridge, built around 1905 or 1906. The town was briefly a railway terminus, when a

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 ...

from a junction in Clarksville 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 ...

was opened to the town on 22 January 1877. A little over two months later, the line was opened beyond Waitahuna to

and it went on to become the

Roxburgh Branch The Roxburgh Branch was a branch line railway built in the Otago region of New Zealand's South Island that formed part of the country's national rail network. Originally known as the Lawrence Branch, it was one of the longest construction pr ...

. Passenger trains served Waitahuna until 4 September 1936; from that date until the line's closure on 1 June 1968, the line was freight-only. Despite the line's closure, Waitahuna's

goods shed A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...

and station building still stand at the site of the former railway yard, and are being restored by their owners.

Education

Waitahuna School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 6 students, with a roll of as of .

Notable people

Albert James Ryan Albert James Ryan (1884–1955) was a New Zealand commercial traveller, newspaper publisher, Irish nationalist and land agent.

(1884–1955), New Zealand commercial traveller, newspaper publisher, Irish nationalist and land agent

References

External links

Education Review Office's review of Waitahuna School, October 2005

Lawrence visitor's guide
- includes some Waitahuna details Populated places in Otago Clutha District {{Otago-geo-stub