History

The Otago gold rush of the 1860s was the major impetus for Dunedin becoming at that time the major financial centre of New Zealand. That and the opportunities offered by the ’new world‘ saw the establishment of three engineering companies that would over time merge to become the Farra Engineering that we know today. Those three founding companies were Farra Bros (1863), Dunedin Engineering (1868) and Otago Iron Rolling Mills (1886).

The three companies' history tracks the European economic history of New Zealand, from the gold rush days to the First World War when we had three ships plying routes in the Pacific sourcing iron ore scrap. We weathered the depression of the 1930s, took advantage of another wartime economy in the 1940s and built cranes for the ’think big‘ projects of the 1970s. We restructured to survive the following economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s and today we are a modern and diverse engineering company with a national and international focus, proud of our achievements and proud of our past.

140 years on, the descendants of those founding families of the 19th Century are still today the major shareholders of this privately owned company.