First Church from the corner of Moray Pl and Princes St, date unknown. Then as now acitylandmark, “First” Church is actually thefourth building to house Dunedin’s Presbyterian congregants, earlier buildings being on High St and Dowling St. The foundationstone forthe churchwas laidin1868onlandwhich wasformerly Bell Hill, and the church officially opened forworship in 1873 —ODT FILES

rent sometimesbypersonalhonourand clannish pugnacity (and at others by deepseated spiritual disagreements), religion andphilosophy became almost naturally associatedasnationaltraits.

Andthe Disruption —withits divided families andcongregations, bitter arguments andmaterialsacrifices assuredfor thenew awakeningacertain permanence whichmen like Rennie,and later, Cargill,werenot slow to appreciate. Moreover,revival wasessentially an evangelistic movement,charged with true missionary zeal,and in 1843 the appointmentofthe RevThomas Burns as first minister of theproposed New Edinburghcolonyforgedthe first official linkwithPresbyterianism.

Unionwiththe Free Church inevitably wroughtchanges andmodifications of the originalRennie plan.Theschemeitself became knownasthe ‘‘Otago’’ rather than the‘‘New Edinburgh’’planaspreviously. Thischangeoftitle wasdictated, it was said,bysomeunpleasantassociationsthat had been linkedwith‘‘New Edinburgh’’; andaftermuchdiscussion‘‘Dunedin’’ was decidedasthe future capital

The plans of thepromotiontriad, Rennie,Burns andCargill,began increasinglytoshowsigns of differences anddisagreements. It was, however, clearlyacaseofmajorityrule, and Rennie’s broadlyScottish character wassacrificedmoreand more to the narrower andmoreuncompromising viewsofthe Free Church apostles, Burns andCargill Throughout, Burns’ determination was franklyacompactFreeChurchcolony, with church,schooland constitution impervious to allintruders

Unfortunately for Rennie,circumstances were toomuchfor hismoreliberalviews, andthe differences betweenthe three menbecame irreconcilable

And when at last,in1844, Frederick Tuckett, thecompany surveyor,decided finallyonthe site of theFreeChurch colony,itwas alreadyclear that Cargill, notRennie,would be thedirector of the newsettlement.

The enthusiasm of 1843,however,did notlongremain on theside of Scottish emigration.Asthe weeksand months passed,exaggeratedreports of Māori disturbances andofNew Zealand Companyembarrassmentsfiltered slowly throughtothe homeland

And in spiteofwidespreadpoverty andmiseryathome, theScot, more cautious than ever,resolutelywithheld hissupport

It must,indeed,haveseemedironic to themen at thehelm, Burns, Cargill andDrAldcorn, that it wasthe Scots, andmoreparticularlytheir ownFree Church people,who remained so suspiciously aloof.

Their labourswerenot,however, altogether in vain. In 1845 theLay Association wasformed, andwhen at last in thesameyearthe British government agreed to countenancethe Otago Scheme,renewed preparations for thelong-retarded surveying immediately resumed.

To Charles HenryKettle, theyoung surveyor appointedtoundertake the somewhat arduoustask,the Otago block, stretchingfrom Otago Harbourin thenorth to theMolyneux in thesouth, wasscarcelyavirginfield.

Tuckettand hisassistants, Barnicoat andDavidson, had made careful record of thenatureofthe country, thepotentialities of itsharboursand rivers,and theapproximate locationsof possible settlementsites.Abeginning had been made

Arriving by the Mary Catherine early in 1846, theKettles andtheir partywere greetedbya sceneofgreat beauty,but naturallovelinesscompensated little for twolonelyyears in surroundings made sordid by aderelictcommunity of whalersand runawaysailors,and aMāori population ridden by the European vice of drunkenness.

Still,the work of surveyingproceeded apace,and although on completion it resembledthe more Utopianideals of theRennie plan,Kettlesucceeded admirablyinthe face of thebroad and masterfulsweep of forest-cladhillsand thevaststretches of flax-coveredswamp

Indeed,itwas notKettle’sfault that thefirst emigrants foundontheir arrivalneither thewell-planned roads, theflourishingfarms andgardens, northe imposingjetty —those social inducements on whichRennie had staked so much

Throughoutthe long yearsof preparation—dating, it might be said, from 1840, when George Rennie’s enthusiasm for plannedand systematic emigration first took tangible form in theNew EdinburghScheme,until finallyonMarch 23,1848, when from thedecks of the John Wickliffe asea of anxiousand expectantfaces peered out uncertainly at theirstrange surroundings —the Otago Scheme experiencedmanyvicissitudes.

It had itsraremoments of enthusiasm andvirilityaswithits first union with theFreeChurchmovementinthose earlydaysof1843. More frequently it wasconfrontedbyanuncompromising anddisapproving officialdomand the suspicious incredulityofthe thrifty Scot.

In itscause,manyhad sacrificed unselfishly theirleisure,their health and their substance; andalthoughfinally much of theoncebroadly Scottish characterofthe wholemovementwas lostbeneath aforbiddingarray of Free Church doctrine andprinciples, the name of George Rennie must ever stand as thetrueinitiator.

The Globe Hotel, Oamaru Built in 1879 for William Maitland, it was described by the Oamaru Mail as “one of the most elegant hotels in the town”, but things got off to a rocky start when a number of hotel keepers including Mr Maitland were charged with watering down their brandy

Clyde in the 1870s Founded as Dunstan in the middle of the 1860s gold rush, it was renamed in 1865 in honour of Lord Clyde, who had recently suppressed the Indian mutiny

An early view of Queenstown. Known as Tahuna (shallow bay) by Māori, two competing stories exist as to how the town got its European name Either Irish miners, filled with patriotism after Cobh in their home country changed its name to Queenstown, decided to do the same in their new southern home . . . or that a reference at a public meeting to the lake town being “fit for a queen” transmuted into “Queenstown”

St Bathans in 1878 Although a rough and ready mining town, St Bathans did have a horse racing club The 1879 December meeting was postponed due to “execrable” weather, but when racing got under way, Mr Keenan’s Manx Boy scored in the feature race, the St Bathans Handicap, a 15 sovereign race.

Packing peaches forthe marketinMrA.Birch’sshed at Roxburgh, in December 1909. At that year’sDunstan Horticultural Society ShowMrBirch’sclingstone peaches came second behind those of Mr Pocock. His apricots were awarded thirdplace, but he wasjudged to have the best prunesinthe show. —ODTFILES