The portraits on this wall are of people who arrived in Otago up to the end of 1864. The top row features oil paintings of wealthy settlers who arrived in this period. The photographic portraits, from the second row onwards, are arranged from left to right in a chronological sequence by their date of arrival. Husbands and wives have been kept together in this arrangement even where they arrived on different ships. In these cases the couples are positioned according to the earlier date of arrival.

The 1860s proved to be the crucial decade in early Otago’s development. Following the discovery of gold in 1861, huge numbers of new arrivals poured into the province. These newcomers included continuing migrant arrivals from Britain but most were gold seekers from Australia, who added a quite different character to the place. The gold rushes put an end to the small-scale settlement of the first 12 years, dominated by Scots and their Free Church Presbyterianism. For many years the Otago Early Settlers Association, who founded this Museum, used the end of the gold rush era, in 1864, as the cut-off date for its membership. Only portraits of those who arrived before the end of 1864 qualified for display in this Gallery.

This is only a small sample of the Museum’s collection of settler portraits. Thousands of other portraits are kept in a special storage area. Digital access to any of these portraits is available in the Museum’s Research Centre.