Hyde, New Zealand
Hyde is a locality in Otago, New Zealand, located in the Strath-Taieri. It is close to the northern end of the Rock and Pillar Range on State Highway 87 between Middlemarch and Ranfurly.
Hyde is best known as the site of the Hyde railway disaster of 4 June 1943, in which 21 people were killed when an express train on the Otago Central Railway derailed at high speed in a cutting near the town. At the time, it was the worst railway accident in New Zealand's history; it has only been passed by the Tangiwai disaster of 24 December 1953, which claimed the lives of 151 people. The site of the Hyde disaster can now be walked as part of the Otago Central Rail Trail and a monument, a 2.5 m high cairn, stands as a memorial to the victims.
Hyde was originally a gold mining boom town of the 1860s Otago gold rush. It is now experiencing a rebirth as a stop of for cyclists on the Otago cycling trail. The only road other than the state highway is named after one of the gold mining towns first resident's Micheal Prendergast hence Prendergast Road.
