Kyeburn is a small settlement in

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

, in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasma ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

. It lies on the

Maniototo The Maniototo Plain, usually simply known as The Maniototo, is an elevated inland region in Otago, New Zealand. The region roughly surrounds the upper reaches of the Taieri River and the Manuherikia River. It is bounded by the Kakanui Range to t ...

, a wide, high plain stretching from the end of the

Strath-Taieri Strath Taieri is a large glacial valley and river plateau in New Zealand's South Island. It is surrounded by the rugged hill ranges to the north and west of Otago Harbour. Since 1989 it has been part of the city of Dunedin. The small town of Middle ...

valley. Kyeburn stands at the junction of State Highways 85 ("The Pigroot") and 87, some east of Ranfurly, on the Kyeburn Stream, a minor tributary of the

Taieri River The Taieri River is the fourth-longest river in New Zealand and is in Otago in the South Island. Rising in the Lammerlaw Range, it initially flows north, then east around the Rock and Pillar range before turning southeast, reaching the sea sout ...

.''Wise's New Zealand guide'' (1969) Dunedin: H. Wise & Co. pp. 129–130. The stream's name, from which the settlement gets its name, is one of those within "

Thomson's Barnyard Placenames in New Zealand derive largely from British and Māori origins. An overview of naming practices can be found at New Zealand place names. A * Akaroa – Kāi Tahu Māori for "Long Harbour", equivalent to Whangaroa * Albany (Māori: ...

", an area dotted with northern English farmyard animal names, all given by early Otago surveyor

John Turnbull Thomson John Turnbull Thomson (10 August 1821 – 16 October 1884) was a British civil engineer and artist who played an instrumental role in the development of the early infrastructure of nineteenth-century Singapore and New Zealand. He lived the last 2 ...

. The area was, in its early years of settlement, called Cows Creek. ("kye" is a Northumbrian term for cows). The area around Kyeburn was a busy mining location during the latter part of the

Otago Gold Rush The Otago Gold Rush (often called the Central Otago Gold Rush) was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand. This was the country's biggest gold strike, and led to a rapid influx of foreign miners to the area – ...

, with the mining settlement of

Kyeburn Diggings Kyeburn is a small settlement in Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. It lies on the Maniototo, a wide, high plain stretching from the end of the Strath-Taieri valley. Kyeburn stands at the junction of State Highways 85 ("The Pigroot") a ...

(sometimes called Upper Kyeburn) located some 10 kilometres to the north of Kyeburn itself.

The Murder of Mary Young

Kyeburn would be flung into national and international infamy at the beginning of the 1880s when long-time resident Mary Young was murdered on 3 August 1880. This murder was shocking to many residents and garnered media attention during the trial that followed. Young died from the injuries that were inflicted on her with large stones from her garden before any definite culprit could be found. Because of this, the police struggled to find a motive, let alone the identity of the culprit. The only lead they had initially was discovered through talking to Young before she died, as she indicated that the person that attacked her was of Chinese origin. Because of the lack of evidence, a lengthy trial would find a Chinese man by the name of Ah Lee guilty. He was a miner who had only been in the area for a short period of time and was indicted based on largely circumstantial evidence. Although he was convicted and executed, a lot of people believed that Lee was not guilty, after many fallacies in the prosecution came to light, including the fact that the interpreter who the police used did not fully understand the type of Chinese. The interpreter was a Seyuip Cantonese and Lee of Panyu origin, resulting in about a 40% understanding between the two.

References

Populated places in Otago Otago Gold Rush {{Otago-geo-stub