Balclutha, New Zealand

Balclutha is a town in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the capital of the Clutha District. With its approximately 4,000 inhabitants, it is the Clutha River and belongs to a wealthy sheep pasture area on State Highway 1, 80 km southwest of Dunedin.

Balclutha is also connected to the rail network of the Main South Line on which the passenger of the Southerners was discontinued in 2002, however. However, the freight will be moved regularly on the track.

Its name commemorates the Scottish roots of the immigrants: Balclutha ( Anglicized form of Gaelic Baile Chluaidh ) = city on the Clyde. Today she has the nickname The Big River Town.

James McNeil was in 1852 the first settlers of the town. He operated a ferry across the Clutha. His son John McNeil later became mayor, when the city was firmly in the hands of the gold prospectors. 1868 was finally built a bridge over the Clutha, which held but only until 1878, when a flood destroyed it. The current Balclutha Road Bridge was completed in 1935. In recent years it has begun to use the river with dams and hydroelectric power plants.

In the deposits of the Clutha and its tributaries have been at the beginning of the 20th century found gold. Even today, piles of rubble at this time. But even today, the search for the precious metal on.

Balclutha is part of the Southern Scenic Route.

Swell

• Place in the Otago Region