The largest settlements in West Otago are Tapanui and Heriot, and other localities within the area include Moa Flat, Edievale, Crookston, Merino Downs, and Waikoikoi.
[3] Early settlers in the region included William Pinkerton, an Englishman who had been a runholder in Australia for over a decade, who first cleared land for farming around Tapanui in 1857.
[4] A Scottish settler, Adam Oliver, and his wife Agnes, had settled further down the Pomahaka valley the previous year.
[6] West Otago consists of rolling farmland and forested hills close to the Pomahaka River.
Livestock farming (sheep and cattle) is a major industry in the area,[7] and Tapanui is historically a forestry centre.