In the early days of New Zealand's colonisation, transport between Bluff and Invercargill was through sometimes impassable swampy terrain. Construction of a road to Bluff (called Campbelltown until March 1917) was approved by the Otago Provincial Council in 1859, but the swamp defeated the builders. Southland Province split from Otago in 1861, partially over disputes over infrastructure spending. The new council considered a railway as an alternative to the road. In November 1862 the provincial council decided on building the "Bluff Harbour & Invercargill Railway". On 8 August 1863 "Lady Barkly", the first locomotive to steam in New Zealand, ran on a small section of track on Invercargill Jetty, and a line from Invercargill to Makarewa (today part of the Ohai Branch) opened on 18 October 1864, built with wooden rails, as an apparently cheaper alternative to iron rails. The same year construction of a line to Bluff began.