GORE, the Establishing and Name of the Town

The town is located in the Mataura Valley or the "Valley of Water" on a ford, spot where the Mataura river could easily be crossed. Because there was plenty of space to cross, it was a long ford and that's why the settlement was named Longford,1855. In 1895 the superintendent of the Province of Southland, dr Menzies renamed it to Gore, after the New Zealand Governor, Thomas Gore Browne.
[ Feeley J R]