Winton History

The town was established in 1861, and was named after Thomas Winton, who regularly drove stock through this area in the late 1850s. Whilst searching for strayed stock, he had occasion to camp by the banks of the small stream, which became known as Winton Creek. The town took its name from the creek.

Winton first came to prominence in the days of the gold rush, as it was one of the stops enroute to the goldfields. Winton was formerly a railway junction but is no longer served by any trains.

On 22 February 1871, a railway line from Invercargill was opened to Winton, built to the international standard gauge of 1,435mm. This was the furthest extent of Southland’s standard gauge network, and the next section to Caroline was built to New Zealand’s national gauge, 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge railway. This extension opened on 20 October 1875, ending Winton’s 4.5 years as a railway terminus, and two months later, the line back to Invercargill was converted to 1,067mm gauge. This line grew to be the Kingston Branch.

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