The Otago Scottish Heritage Council was one of the groups that funded the production of Journey to New Edinburgh, however we were not the only one. Another major player was the Otago Settlers Association.

The OSA was established on 23 March 1898, the 50th anniversary of the John Wickliffe’s arrival in Port Chalmers. Over the following ten years, they built up a collection of portraits and artefacts that formed the beginnings of the Early Settlers Museum collection. The collection found its first permanent home in 1908, in the building now known as the Burnside wing of Toitū Otago Settlers Museum.

That museum expanded throughout the years, now running a considerable distance along SH1 from the Railway Station to Queens Gardens. And the OSA is still there, occupying a small wing in an early extension of the original building. Each year, the association supports projects and programmes at the museum, continuing to prioritise protecting Dunedin’s precious social history.

This week, we look at episode 5: Making it Work. With the establishment of a provincial government in 1853, things slowly got back on track. Immigration was revived on a much-expanded scale and surveying and mapping began to open up Otago’s vast inland areas for closer settlement.