What a joy Art Galleries are. That is, if you like wandering in silence looking at pictures. If you don't, then I'd imagine they would be rather dull places. I guess it would be similar to expecting everyone to enjoy going to see the All Blacks at Eden Park or Manchester United at Old Trafford. Personally, I love art galleries so one afternoon having found myself caught in a rainstorm, I ducked into the Dunedin Public Art Gallery to pass the time until the rain passed. They also let me set up my camera for a bit as it was reasonably quiet. Check out my daily blog from a small city. https://fromasmallcity.nz/ The latest print price guide: https://bit.ly/3oLw9OI
When the New Zealand Company’s chief Surveyor, Captain William Mein Smith left Otago Harbour sometime in the early 1940’s, he wasn’t too impressed. Having been sent down from Wellington to report on the suitability of the harbour as a place for a settlement, Captain Smith spent five days taking a boat around the harbour before departing with the view that there was ‘little arable land in sight’ and not many ‘desirable places’ to build a town. In the years preceding Captain Smith’s visit, the Otago Harbour had become a busy place. There had been local Māori iwi living in tribes along the coast for some time but the arrival of Europeans, brought to the area to hunt Seals and Whales, meant a steady stream of boats started to grace Otago Harbour. The whaling station which was operated by the Weller Brothers from Sydney had based their operations near the harbour entrance at a place called Otakou and it had grown to be one of the biggest in the country. At its peak producing 310 tons of oil in 1834. However, by the early 1840’s the whale population had been hunted so extensively that there remained little money to be made and population numbers in the Otago Harbour significantly dwindled. When Captain Smith arrived a few years after the whaling industry ceased, he came to survey the region as a place for potential further colonisation. He found small pockets of both Europeans and Māori living in the area but he concluded that there were very limited suitable places to build a town. Before departing the Otago region, he did make one recommendation however, he concluded that if any region would be favourable for a town it would be the areas now known as Portobello or Broad Bay. Check out my daily blog from a small city. https://fromasmallcity.nz/ The latest print price guide: https://bit.ly/3oLw9OI
Officially, the Octagon in Dunedin was made a public reserve 168 years ago in 1854. The Octagon was part of English surveyor Charles Kettle’s 1846 plan for the new city which would feature a large Octagonal area in the centre of the city with a small octagonal reserve in the middle. Once construction of the new city started with dwellings of all kinds being added, the Octagon stood empty for many years before any major structure of any kind was added. The first being a monument to William Cargill who was leader of the Free Church migration to Otago which was erected in 1864. Since then, monuments have been moved, added and replaced. Star Fountains have been added and dismantled and all kinds of upgrades have taken place. One of the latest additions is this sculpture called Ko te Tuhono, by Ayesha Green. Check out my daily blog from a small city. https://fromasmallcity.nz/ The latest print price guide: https://bit.ly/3oLw9OI
