Brightwater

Brightwater is a town 20 kilometres southwest of Nelson in Tasman district in the South Island of New Zealand. It stands on the banks of the Wairoa River. Brightwater was named by Alfred Saunders, the owner of a local Flax mill situated on the banks of the Wairoa River, after a popular song at the time "Bright Water", which was about choosing non-alcoholic drinks over spirits. The settlement was named in 1855, but the area was settled as early as 1843. Brightwater was the birthplace of Nobel Prize-winning scientist, the "father of nuclear physics", Sir Ernest Rutherford and has an eleborate Lord Rutherford Birthplace memorial on the aptly named Lord Rutherford Road. Brightwater had a population of 1,794 at the time of the 2006 census,...