Hyde is a locality in Otago

Otago

Otago is a region of New Zealand in the south of the South Island. The region covers an area of approximately making it the country's second largest region. The population of Otago is...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, located in the Strath-Taieri. It is close to the northern end of the Rock and Pillar Range

Rock and Pillar Range

The Rock and Pillar Range of high hills is located in the Maniototo, an area of inland Otago, New Zealand. They are surrounded by the Taieri River, which has its source in the range, flowing out across the scroll plain at Paerau, before almost doubling back on itself at Waipiata and flowing back...

 on State Highway 87

New Zealand State Highway network

The New Zealand State Highway network is the major national highway network in New Zealand. Just under 100 roads in both the North and South Islands are State Highways...

 between Middlemarch

Middlemarch, New Zealand

Middlemarch is a small town within the limits of Dunedin city in New Zealand with 300 inhabitants. It lies some 80km to the west of the city centre, at the foot of the Rock and Pillar Range of hills in the broad Strath-Taieri valley, through which flows the middle reaches of the Taieri...

 and Ranfurly

Ranfurly, New Zealand

Ranfurly is the largest settlement in the Maniototo district of Otago, New Zealand. Located 110 kilometres north of Dunedin, it lies in dry rough country at a moderately high altitude close to a small tributary of the Taieri River. It is a service town for the local farming community...

.

Hyde is best known as the site of the Hyde railway disaster

Hyde railway disaster

The Hyde railway disaster occurred on 4 June 1943 near the small settlement of Hyde, New Zealand on a bend of the Otago Central Railway. At the time, it was New Zealand's worst railway accident; of the 113 passengers on board, 21 were killed and a further 47 were injured. But just over ten years...

 of 4 June 1943, in which 21 people were killed when an express train on the Otago Central Railway derailed at high speed in a cutting near the town. At the time, it was the worst railway accident in New Zealand's history; it has only been passed by the Tangiwai disaster

Tangiwai disaster

The Tangiwai disaster on 24 December 1953 was the worst rail accident in New Zealand history. An 11-carriage overnight express from Wellington to Auckland fell into the Whangaehu River at Tangiwai, ten kilometres west of Waiouru. The bridge carrying the North Island Main Trunk Railway over the...

 of 24 December 1953, which claimed the lives of 151 people. The site of the Hyde disaster can now be walked as part of the Otago Central Rail Trail

Otago Central Rail Trail

The Otago Central Rail Trail is a 150-kilometre walking, cycling and horse riding track in the South Island of New Zealand. It runs in an arc between Middlemarch and Clyde, along the route of the former Otago Central Railway...

 and a monument, a 2.5 m high cairn

Cairn

Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...

, stands as a memorial to the victims.

Hyde was originally a gold mining boom town of the 1860's Otago gold rush. It is now experiencing a re-birth as a stop of for cyclists on the Otago cycling trail. The only road other than the state highway is named after one of the gold mining towns first resident's Micheal Prendergast hence Prendergast Road.