Palmerston is the centre of East Otago. It is 59 km south of Ōamaru and 56 km north of Dunedin, at the junction with the ‘Pigroot’ (State Highway 85), originally a route to the Central Otago goldfields. Puketapu (343 m) is capped by a memorial to Liberal Party politician Jock McKenzie, who represented the district in Parliament for many years.
Meaning of place name
After Lord Palmerston, a British prime minister.
