Kurow is a small town in the Waitaki District, New Zealand. It is located on the south bank of the Waitaki River, 60 kilometres (37 mi) northwest of Oamaru.

Description

The name is an Anglicised form of the Māori name of the nearby mountain, Te Kohurau.^[3]

In the 1920s, the town was the base for the building of the nearby Waitaki Dam and forming Lake Waitaki in the first of a series of hydroelectric projects on the Waitaki River.

The first social security scheme for New Zealand workers was designed in the town, arising from Presbyterian Minister of Kurow Arnold Nordmeyer‘s experience of working with families of workers on the Waitaki hydro-electric project.^[4]

Examples of pre-European Māori cave paintings are close to the small settlement of Duntroon.

The land around the town includes summerfruit orchards, and increasing amounts of Pinot noir are being planted in the limestone soils. In 2021, there were 13 wineries and vineyards in operation in the Waitaki valley.^[5]

The town was the terminus of the Kurow Branch railway, opened in 1881 to Hakataramea, across the Waitaki River, but cut back to Kurow in 1930. It closed in 1983: the line can be traced on the ground, and the station still building stands on Liverpool St. From 1928 until 1937, a line owned by the Public Works Department ran from Kurow to the hydroelectric project 6.4 km to the west.

Investigations into two proposals for further hydroelectricity development on the lower Waitaki river: Project Aqua and North Bank Tunnel benefited the economy of Kurow. Neither of these got past the planning stage and caused significant social disruption to the community.^[6]

Kurow had been trying to fund a statue of Richie McCaw since 2016 but has struggled to raise the required money. A seven metre tall statue was being considered at one stage.^[7]