Otago Settlers' Museum

Toitū Otago Settlers Museum

Toitū Otago Settlers Museum main wing (Dunedin Railway Station is visible in the background)
Established	1898
Location	31 Queens Gardens, Dunedin, New Zealand
Website	Toitū Otago Settlers Museum

The Toitū Otago Settlers Museum is a regional history museum in Dunedin, New Zealand. Its brief covers the territory of the old Otago Province, that is, New Zealand from the Waitaki River south, though less emphasis is given to the area which later became the Southland Region. It is New Zealand's oldest and most extensive history museum. It is located in the heart of the city close to other prominent buildings such as the Dunedin Railway Station, some 500 metres from the city centre (The Octagon).

Founded in 1898, the 50th anniversary of the Scottish settlement of Otago, by the Otago Early Settlers' Association, by 1908 the museum was located in a building in Queen's Gardens Dunedin, designed by John Burnside. Originally concerned only with European settlers, initially just those who arrived between 1848 and the first of the Otago gold rushes in 1861, the institution gradually enlarged its scope to include later arrivals and eventually Māori. At that point the word 'early' was dropped from the name of the Museum and the Association. Its collections evolved reflecting these changes but remain focused on the historical period, i.e. since James Cook's first visit to southern New Zealand in 1770.

In 1927 the museum took over the adjoining building, also designed by Burnside, vacated by the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. The institution sometimes struggled financially finding little support from the city council. Comparable museums in two other New Zealand cities, Auckland and Wellington, were closed after the second world war and their collections dispersed. The country's interest in its own history was at a low ebb. The period 1949 to 1977 has been called 'Decline and Fall?' and the museum might have died. The buildings were extensive, the collections considerable and varied, comprehending furniture, apparel, technology - including household appliances and vehicles - as well as archives and works of art. Maintenance and even heating presented formidable challenges.