CLYDE

Clyde is located  in an area known as The Dunstan named by an English surveyor, John Turnbull Thomson. He was the second white man to enter the region in the spring of 1857. It is believed he used the name Dunstan because the mountains reminded him of his birthplace in England where Dunstan means “a stone on the hill” Thomson was probably inspired by the schist tors dominating the landscape.Originally known as Upper Dunstan, Clyde like many Central Otago towns and settlements owes its existence to gold which was discovered in the region in 1861. Two miners, American-born Horatio Hartley and an Irish immigrant to the United States, Christopher Reilly, tried their luck near the entrance to the gorge where Clyde now lies.