Wedderburn, New Zealand
Encyclopedia
Central Otago
Central Otago is the inland part of the New Zealand region of Otago in the South Island. The area commonly known as Central Otago includes both the Central Otago District and the Queenstown-Lakes District to the west....
, 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...
. It is located 15 kilometres northwest of 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...
, and was at one time close to the centre of a thriving gold and coal mining area. The name of Wedderburn was given to the area by John Turnbull Thomson
John Turnbull Thomson
John Turnbull Thomson 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. -Biography:...
, and is one of the names in his infamous "Thomson's Barnyard", wedder being Northumbrian
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
dialect form of the word wether
Wether
Wether may refer to:*A castrated male goat*A castrated male sheep...
, meaning a castrated sheep.
Wedderburn is on State Highway 85
New Zealand State Highway 85
State Highway 85 is a South Island State Highway in New Zealand, servicing the Maniototo Plains and the North and Central Otago regions of the South Island between the major settlements of Alexandra and Palmerston. It is wholly two lane and passes through some of the most extreme climatic regions...
close to 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...
. Originally a coaching stop, Wedderburn became a terminus on the Otago Central Railway in 1921 and was the headquarters for the Public Works Department
New Zealand Ministry of Works
The New Zealand Ministry of Works, formerly the Department of Public Works and sometimes referred to as the Public Works Department or PWD, was founded in 1876 and disestablished and privatised in 1988...
during construction of this section of the line. The section through Wedderburn was eventually abandoned due to a decline in traffic. The line was sustained during the 1980s carrying materials for the Clyde Dam
Clyde Dam
The Clyde Dam, New Zealand's third largest hydroelectric dam, is built on the Clutha River near the town of Clyde. It is owned and operated by Contact Energy.-History:...
, which inundated the stretch of the line between Clyde
Clyde, New Zealand
Clyde is a small town in Central Otago, New Zealand with a population of 918 in 2006. It is located on the Clutha River, between Cromwell and Alexandra....
and Cromwell
Cromwell, New Zealand
Cromwell is a town in Central Otago in the Otago region of New Zealand.It is situated between State Highway 6 and State Highway 8 leading to the Lindis Pass, 75 km northeast, and Alexandra, 33 km south. The road to Alexandra winds through the Cromwell Gorge...
, but when the dam was finished, the traffic on the line was below sustainable levels and it was officially closed.
Following the closure of the railway, the Otago Excursion Train Trust and Dunedin
Dunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
City Council bought the track through the scenic Taieri Gorge
Taieri Gorge
The Taieri Gorge is located on the Taieri River, in the South Island of New Zealand.It is a deep canyon carved by the Taieri River on the middle stage of its journey from Central Otago to the Pacific Ocean, between the high plateau of the Maniototo and the coastal Taieri Plains.The Taieri Gorge...
up to 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...
to form the Taieri Gorge Railway
Taieri Gorge Railway
The Taieri Gorge Railway is a railway line and tourist train operation based at Dunedin Railway Station in the South Island of New Zealand...
Ltd. The remaining track was removed and this section became the 150 kilometres long 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...
from Middlemarch to Clyde for recreational use by cyclists and walkers. This trail passes through Wedderburn and past the Wedderburn goods shed
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 alongside a track with possibly just a canopy over the door...
.
Artist Grahame Sydney
Grahame Sydney
Grahame Sydney, ONZM is a New Zealand artist, based in the southern South Island region of Otago. His landscapes, which concentrate largely on sparse elements of human impact on Otago's wild natural beauty and the loneliness of individuals in this scenery, possess a style which could be described...
made the Wedderburn railway goods shed famous in his 1975 painting of the shed in an austere Otago landscape representing the economic and social changes brought about by railways. The shed was subsequently removed to a site five kilometres away but later returned following public protest. The shed is now being conserved and has been restored to its recognisable green colour.