HistoryMilburn is locally known for its limeworks with the Milburn Lime and Cement Works having been founded in 1888. The company ceased operations in 1967, however other lime works continued to truck thousands of tonnes of crushed limestone out of the hills separating the Tokomairaro Plain and Lake Waihola annually to be used in fertilizers. Having said this, the area is now predomiantely a sheep farming community. Milburn was named after Morris Milburn, who came to New Zealand from Sunderland, North East of England in the United Kingdom in 1858. He arrived at Lyttleton harbour aboard The Zealandia. "He journeyed overland to Dunedin doing the greater part of the trip by foot. In Otago he followed the goldfields with varying fortune incidental to a miners life. Working successfully at Gabriel's Gully at Molyneux and at Milburn, the last mentioned place being named after him" (Exert from Morris Milburn's Obituary from The Lyttleton Times December 1906, accessed from Papers Past). Schools in the area included North Tokomairirio (1864-1866), Waihola Gorge (1867-1896), and Milburn (1897-1996).
