Hutchinson is a village and former railway junction in the Northern Cape

Northern Cape

The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of an international park shared with Botswana...

 province of South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. It is located 12 kilometres (7 mi) south-east of Victoria West

Victoria West

Victoria West is a town in the central Karoo region of South Africa's Northern Cape province. It is situated on the main N12 route, at an elevation of . It is the seat of the Ubuntu Local Municipality within the Pixley ka Seme DM....

, on the Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

–Kimberley

Kimberley, Northern Cape

Kimberley is a city in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. It is located near the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The town has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and siege during the Second Boer War...

 railway line.

Hutchinson was founded in 1883, at the arrival of the railway line from Cape Town, as a station named Victoria West Road. In 1901 it was renamed after Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson

Walter Hely-Hutchinson

Sir Walter Francis Hely-Hutchinson GCMG was an Anglo-Irish diplomat and colonial administrator.-Biography:He was the son of Richard Hely-Hutchinson, 4th Earl of Donoughmore, He attended the University of Cambridge....

, then Governor of the Cape Colony

Cape Colony

The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...

. In 1905 Hutchinson became a junction when a branch line to Victora West and Carnarvon was opened. This line was extended in 1915 to Williston

Williston, Northern Cape

Williston is a town in Northern Cape, South Africa. Originally settled by people from Germany, the town was renamed in honor of Hampden Willis in 1883.-References:...

 and in 1918 to Calvinia

Calvinia

Calvinia is a regional town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa named after the Swiss religious reformer John Calvin. The town belongs to the Hantam Local Municipality which forms part of the Namakwa District Municipality. The Calvinia district is part of the Great Karoo region of South...

. It was closed in 2001, but passenger trains on the main line still stop at Hutchinson to serve Victoria West.

Hutchinson is located in the Ubuntu Local Municipality

Ubuntu Local Municipality

Ubuntu Local Municipality is a municipality in the Pixley ka Seme District Municipality of the Northern Cape province of South Africa.Its seat is Victoria West; other towns in the municipality are Richmond, Loxton and two small railway villages Hutchinson and Merriman.-References:...

, which is part of the Pixley ka Seme District Municipality. It is situated just off the R63 regional route.