This room is the historic heart of the Museum. When it opened in March 1908, the Museum consisted of just this room for display and an attached hall for social gatherings. At this time the walls were only partly hung. Within a decade of opening the portraits covered every wall surface from floor to ceiling.
Together the assembled pictures made a stunning visual memorial to Otago’s pioneers. Stern Presbyterian faces glowered down from the walls as their descendants trooped through to pay tribute to the patriarchs and matriarchs of the early settlement. This room was much like the ancestral embodiment of a Maori meeting house – the whare tipuna of the Scottish settlers. Its purpose was neatly summarised by the Otago Early Settlers Association motto: ‘Reanimate Otago’s Pioneers to fame undying through the dying years.’
Over 100 years later, the Gallery is still fulfilling this role. It was a lucky coincidence that the mid-19th-century settlement of Otago coincided with the development of photography. The new technology meant that images of the pioneers could be captured for posterity. The Early Settlers Association realised the historic importance of such photographic portraits and put a huge effort into collecting them. Thanks to their efforts, we can survey the faces of the people who developed Otago from its earliest days.
A representative selection of the overall collection is displayed here in chronological order of arrival, along with details of the emigrant ship, marriage and place of settlement. A full list of portraits in the collection can currently be viewed at our Research Centre.
