The Otago Scottish Heritage Council was formed in 1925. It is formed of members from various Scottish Community groups in Dunedin, and is focused on protecting the Scottish Heritage of our southern city.

Dunedin was founded on March 23rd 1848, when the John Wickliffe arrived in Port Chalmers. The following month, the Philip Laing arrived. These two ships carried the first settlers picked from across Scotland and the wider British Isles, and started the process of building the city of Dunedin, the name based on the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh – Dun Eideann.

This New Edinburgh soon grew to become New Zealand’s first major city, the centre of the great Otago gold rush, and a proudly Scottish city.