Before the town — which has a population of about 600 — was called Edendale, it was known by the names Maorirua, Mataura Plains and Stuart’s Bush.
Edendale is dominated by its milk-processing plant that was originally run by the Southland Dairy Co-operative and is now operated by Fonterra.
The Edendale factory began as a cheese-processing plant and in the 1990s expanded to include milk powder processing.
The plant has been expanded several times since and was in 2009 the largest raw milk-processing plant in the world.
