KELSO PART 2
I was intrigued by Sheryl Bainbridge’s story about her connections with Kelso last issue of NZTODAY. West Otago is an under-visited corner of New Zealand as it’s bypassed by the main State Highways into Central Otago and Southland, leaving this large, lush, roughly triangular chunk of countryside that is prime farming land where a gorse bush dare not show its yellow bloom.
The railway once served the area via a branch line from Waipahi, taking goods and passengers to towns like Edievale, Heriot, Tapanui – and Kelso.
Edievale closed down many years ago; Heriot’s not the thriving little town it once was; Tapanui is almost booming – and then we have Kelso.
Kelso was never a major metropolis. At its height, it was a town of 300 souls that was flooded one time too many by the nearby Pomahaka River and eventually closed down. ‘Pomahaka’ – a lovely name don’t you think?
Of Kelso, what could be moved was moved. The rest demolished.
A friend of mine owned and operated the BP service station and workshop there. Laurence Brownlie took the business over from his father, and among his customers was J B Gordon, a former National cabinet minister in the Muldoon era.
Laurence spoke slowly with a distinctive drawl, but he drove cars fast and was on a short track to motor racing stardom when, in his second season, he had a huge crash from which he was lucky to survive. That was pretty much the end of his motor racing aspirations so he settled down to a full-time life in Kelso building a new house for himself and his pretty blonde wife Yvonne … until a regular small flood was replaced by the devastating floods of 1978 and 1980. The 1978 flood saw the railway line closed. The 1980 flood saw Kelso closed.
