palmerston

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.