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Published: March 24th 2016
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As I'm checking out today and only have half a day until my bus departs for Queenstown I figure I may as well get up and at it and doodle about in Dunedin. After leaving my bags in storage at the hotel I have a quick look around central Dunedin and try to find a couple of geocaches. I manage to find one of them but the 'invisible glue' clue doesn't make much sense to me so I give up on the others and go and have a look at the railway station instead. It's a very grand and ornate building. The highly decorative exterior earned its architect, George Troup, the nickname 'Gingerbread George'. Inside is equally fancy with stained glass windows, decorative wall tiling and intricately patterned mosaic floor tiles. There is a balcony running around the first floor so you can look down at the people below. Well done George, top building!
Next, and final Dunedin stop of the day is a visit to the Toitu Otago Settlers Museum. Before I look around the museum I get some lunch of cheesy vegetable scone and a root vegetable salad presented in a kilner jar on a plate. Rolls eyes.
The plate works perfectly well on its own, it has done for many centuries. We do not need these silly receptacles.
The museum is free entry - nice one New Zealand. I hope all your museums are free entry. This one is great. It tells the history of settlers to the Otago region, both the Maoris and the Europeans in the 1840s, most of whom came from Scotland hence all the Scottish street names. There's some great mock ups of a Maori canoe made of bullrushes, a traditional dome shaped house made of any handy plant material over the top of a wooden frame - I get to crawl inside this - and a large, decorative kite in the shape of a bird made of flax.
In one room there are hundreds of portraits of all the first European Settlers and a touch screen so you can click on a portrait to find out who it is. I have to say they all, without question, look very old and very stern. There are no children. Many working class Scottish and English people were able to take advantage of assisted passage making it affordable to migrate. There is a
mock up of the bunks and living quarters on board the ships that took three months to get from Scotland to Dunedin. Videos depict some of the harsh realities including infant deaths and amputations following broken bones and the like. Makes my two days worth of flights seem pretty tame in comparison. I will try to remember this on my return to the UK. There's also a mock up of one of the first simple houses made from wattle and daub. Immigrants were able to bring just one trunk of personal items, unless they paid extra, so their first homes were pretty basic as can be sent from the example.
My favourite exhibit however are three old photos that come to life when one of the people in the photo turns into a video narrative done by an actor. They are utterly charming and give a more personal view of life for early settlers.
Another great addition are short video extracts of present day Dunedin residents telling some family histories they've discovered. My favourite was the one explaining how thistles had to be controlled as they tended to dominate, preventing crops from growing. The guy's relative from way
back had a little more eccentric method for cutting the thistles. He lashed a chisel to a long stick then charged at the thistles on horseback clutching his chisel cutting implement!
The museum moves on through the ages showing transport, home appliances etc. I love social history museums and this is a really good one.
Sadly I have to say goodbye to Dunedin's fab museum as it's time to pick up my stored luggage and catch my next Intercity bus, this time to Queenstown.
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