Lady Barkly

Lady Barkly was NZ's first steam powered locomotive and designed to run on wooden rails. Named after the wife of the Governor of Victoria, it was imported from Melbourne by its designer/owner JR Davies who had secured the contract to build the Invercargill to Bluff railway. After the successful demonstration here on the Invercargill jetty she spent much of her time on the construction of the Invercargill - Bluff railway. In 1874 she was shifted to a few kms north of Winton and converted to drive the machinery of a sawmill. The place name 'Lady Barkly' remains.