Henry Hirst (1838 – 14 December 1911) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from Southland, New Zealand.
He arrived at Port Chalmers in Otago on the Agra on 30 October 1858[2] and first settled in the Te Anau / Manapouri area in Southland.
Together with John Watts-Russell of Christchurch, he explored Breaksea Sound for open land for sheep farming, but they were unsuccessful in this venture.
In 1860 he married Margaret, a daughter of William and Motoitoi Dallas from the Neck on Stewart Island, in August 1861, he was the first who managed to drive cattle from Southland to the Gabriel's Gully gold field during the Otago gold rush.
When gold was discovered in the locality in 1866, the government resumed the land that he was farming, and he bought another property in the town where he lived for the rest of his life.