A strong family connection with the Labour Party prompted author Mary Logan to write the biography of one of Kurow's favourite sons, Sir Arnold Nordmeyer.
The book, Nordy - Arnold Nordmeyer: A Political Biography, was launched yesterday inside the Waitaki Power Station on the 70th anniversary of the 1938 Social Security Act, legislation Sir Arnold helped develop in Kurow before he became an MP.
Sir Arnold, Dr Gervan McMillan and Andrew Davidson developed a social network scheme where families working on the power station, and struggling to feed and clothe their families during harsh conditions, received help.
Sir Arnold resigned as a Presbyterian minister to stand for Parliament in the then Waitaki electorate and Dr McMillan moved to Dunedin where he became the Dunedin West MP.
Both men were influential in forming Labour's social policy.
Mrs Logan said her grandfather was an early activist for the Labour Party.
Her father had also been active in the party, as she had been - but to a lesser extent.
However, her son was "very much the activist" and he had told his mother Sir Arnold's story needed urgently to be told.
It took 15 years of research and writing, she said.
Members of the Nordmeyer, McMillan and Davidson families were present yesterday among about 200 adults and 100 Waitaki Valley school pupils to hear Prime Minister Helen Clark launch the book.
"Sir Arnold's experience of working with the families of workers at the Waitaki hydro-electric project in Kurow during the Great Depression of the 1930s helped shape his conviction that a universal and comprehensive social security scheme was needed," Miss Clark said.
The 1938 Social Security Act was introduced to Parliament on August 11, 1938, and for the first time acknowledged that the care and welfare of citizens was a government responsibility, Miss Clark said.
Until 1938, there was only a very limited system of pensions covering the elderly, widows, the blind, miners and invalids.
Miss Clark was due to open the first stage of the New Zealand National Museum of Social Security and the 1930s-themed Kurow Heritage Information Centre but was prevented from doing so by snow and rain.
Her arrival at the Waitaki dam was delayed after her flight could not land at Oamaru.
It was diverted to Christchurch from where Miss Clark and her party travelled to Kurow by helicopter.
