1989: The Brown Trout of Gore

The town of Gore, Southland, once drew its wealth from being a crossroads hub. Because of its river crossing it had been called Longford but, as usual, a sensible and authentic name ended up being defiled and replaced by a politicians’ cognomen. In this case, Governor Colonel Gore Browne had Longford (est. 1862, winter) named after himself although nobody even knew of this State imposition until the railway came in the mid-1870s!

“The place-names then were much the same as at present, the most notable exception being the substitution of ‘Gore’ for Longford.’ I remember the late Mr Alex. McNab once told me that the name ‘Gore’ had been given when tile sections were laid off in 1862 and that the name was in honor of our governor t.ore-Browne, who was at that moment in Tasmania. Be that as it may, no one seemed to be aware of the name as eveyone used ‘Longford,’ so that when the railway came to Gore in 1875 and the name ‘Gore’ was put on the station everyone was surprised.” – Pioneer Recollections, H Beatie; Mataura Ensign (1909); Papers Past

“Years in the planning, the distillery is part of stage one of the council’s Maruawai Cultural Precinct project, which also includes a refresh of the moonshine museum. The project received $1.6m in Provincial Growth Funding in 2019.” – Gore’s council opens moonshine distillery in revamped museum, Stuff (2021)

Along with Bob’s big fish Gore became addicted to self-promotion and splashing out on giant public sculptures. The trout is now in the company of a giant guitar stating Gore to be New Zealand’s capital of country music. There’s also a huge sheep self-awarded for Gore’s pastoral credentials. And if having a Gore Historical Museum wasn’t enough, the government opened up a competing one called the Hokonui Moonshine Museum dedicated to booze and boozing! What’s next? A monorail?

All these state projects and conspicuous monuments are indicators of an unhealthy civic state and a government running wild with other peoples’ money. I think Gore must be over-compensating for something and avoiding something else that will become more apparent in the near future.

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Ref. Putting our Town On The Map (1995); Point of View Productions; AHNZ, Youtube