Southland includes the city of Invercargill and the main towns of Gore, Winton, Mataura, Riverton, Wyndham, Tuatapere, Otautau, Lumsden, Te Anau and Bluff.
Southland was part of the province of Otago until 1861 so a lot of Southland’s early records are housed in Otago repositories. Therefore this guide to researching in Southland should be used in conjunction with the research guide Researching in Otago.