EXCEPTIONAL 10YEARS

wood,but themajorityofmud, grassand tree fern.Looking back nowtheyappearbut crude dwelling-places, amererefuge from thestormswithout.But to thepioneerswho had spent months in cramped quarters on boardship, andlater had been forced to sharethe communal existence at thebarracks, thesod hutwithits thatched roof and clay walls, itssolitarywindowand calico flap, symbolised ‘‘home’’ With passingyears and changing circumstances thefirst humble homeshewnfrom their virgin surroundings gave place to many hundreds more of wood, stoneand brick.

To thesettlersofthe 1850s and1860s thecob hutwas ‘‘home’’ indeed,but in spiteof thefresh airand thesunshine, thefirst Otago housewives must have often weariedofcooking in makeshift camp ovens, of keepingthings dryand clean in surroundings of clay,and of making their ownsoapand candles amid hardshipshitherto unknown. Butasthe settlement expandedand increasedin prosperity,soalsothe tallow candles andthe slushlamps gave waytothe uncertain flickeringsofgas jet, andlater to thecomfortablesecurityof electricity.

• The first golf club in the country, the DunedinGolf Club,was formed in 1871.

Otago Daily Times 1871-1877,was a founding member.(Pictured above)MatthewFogarty on thefirst tee, 1871.

• The first radio programme in NewZealand wasbroadcast by Professor Robert Jack (pictured left) from his University of Otago laboratoryonNovember 17,1921. His broadcasts were aired twice aweek and continued forfour months. Reception wasreported from alloverthe country.

• The first long-distance telephone call in the country wasmadebetween Dunedin and Milton on February 2, 1878. Charles Henry, a Dunedin electrician, organised the demonstration, which coveredadistance of 57km. In 1879, telephone offices were established at Port Chalmersand Portobello, which enabled shipping information to be relayedto Dunedin quickly and effectively

• Mason andWalesArchitects Ltd, ofDunedin,was the firstfirm of architects established in New Zealand. It wasfounded in 1862by William Mason. He waslater joined in partnership by Nathaniel Wales. Mr Mason waselected the first MayorofDunedin in 1865.

• The first manufactureof sulphuric acid in NewZealand wasbyKempthorne Prosser and Company at the Burnside FertiliserWorks, Dunedin, in the 1880s, closely followedby the first production of super phosphate.

• In 1869, the first legally made whisky,gin and spirits of wine in the countrywereproducedin Dunedin, at alarge distilleryin Cumberland St.

• The first interprovincialrugby match to be playedinNew Zealand wasbetween Dunedin Clubs and Auckland Provincial Clubs on September 22, 1875, at the Dunedin Southern Recreation Ground Oval, nowknown as the Oval. Dunedin Clubs won, 9and a-half to a-half

• The first condensed milk in the countrywas made by the Roseville DairyCompany,atSawyers Bay, Dunedin. In 1890, aproprietary condensed milk factoryopened at Wallacetown,and wasthe first in NewZealand to produce condensed milk under vacuum.

• The first and only female to be hanged foracrime in NewZealand wasMinnie Dean(pictured above), who wasconvicted on June 21, 1895, of murdering an infant at her babyfarm in East Winton, South Otago. Shewas executed in InvercargillonAugust 12, 1895, and wasburiedinWinton cemetery.

• The first hydro-electric power generation in NewZealand took place in the 1880s, among the gold-mining operationsat Bullendale, near Queenstown. The Phoenix quartz minehad a generator forlighting purposes in 1884, and the much larger hydroelectric installation in 1886 was the country’sfirst major generation andtransmission of hydro-electric powerfor industrial purposes

• St Dominic’s Priory in Smith St, Dunedin, designed by F. W. Petre, wasthe largest buildingof poured concrete in the southern hemispherewhen built in 1877

• The first freezing worksinNew Zealand, and the second in the world, wasestablished at Burnside, Dunedin, by the NewZealand Refrigerating Company in 1881.

• The first doctor to liveinNew Zealand wasDrJosephCrocome, who settled at Waikouaiti in 1838. He worked among the scattered whaling stations and settlements along the Otago coast until his death in 1878.

• The NewZealand pulp and paper industrybegan at the Woodhaugh PaperMill, Dunedin,in1876, when the first machine-made paper was produced by Edward McGlashan

• In 1907,the first Karitane Hospital in NewZealand was opened inDunedin in the Karitane home of Sir Frederick TrubyKing (1858-1938), who founded the RoyalNew Zealandsociety forthe Health of Women and Children, or Plunket Society.The society wasnamed afterits firstpatron, Lord Plunket, thethen Governor of NewZealand. TrubyKing began his life’swork forthe health of mothersand babies while he wasmedicalsuperintendentof Seacliff Asylum.