Tag: Balfour

Balfour is a small town located in the Southland Region of New Zealand. According to the 2001 New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings, it has a usually resident population of 135, unchanged from the previous census in 1996.
Accounts of Balfour’s naming differ: according to one report, it was named after an employee of the Waimea Company who lived there; alternatively it may have been named after James Mulville Balfour, a local surveyor.
Balfour is located between the Hokonui Hills and the Mataura River in the Waimea Plains, and is about fifteen kilometres southeast of Lumsden. It is located on State Highway 94, the main road linking Gore with the tourist town of Queenstown.
In 1880, the Waimea Plains Railway was opened; it linked Gore on the Main South Line with Lumsden on the Kingston Branch and passed through Balfour. The line was an important economic link for many years, and the original Kingston Flyers that gave their name to today’s Kingston Flyer tourist train in…