SCOTTISH SETTLERS
The Scottish settlement story began when two of the founding fathers of Dunedin - Captain William Cargill and Reverend Thomas Burns broke away from the Church of Scotland to create their own church - The Free Church of Scotland.
Their goal was to create a Scottish religious community A New Edinburgh in New Zealand and Otago was chosen as the site.
Dunedin didn't become a totally religious community as people from other countries and religions also wanted to settle in the area.
However the 12,000 or so Scottish immigrants who arrived in the 1850s, helped to strengthen the Scots-Presbyterian character of the City.
By 1886 there were approximately 55,000 Scots estimated to be living in New Zealand.
LAND PURCHASES
Captain Cargill became the Scottish agent for the company responsible for the settlement.
Both he and the Rev. Burns negotiated with the New Zealand Company for land that their settlers could buy - a total of 144,660 acres was made available.
This land was then able to be divided into farms or smaller urban sections, in what was to become the City of Dunedin.
The purchase price for land was 40 shillings an acre, only 72 properties were sold by 1847.
Despite the lower than hoped levels of land purchases the decision was made to go ahead with the settlement anyway, and the first two shipsJohn Wickliffe and Philip Laing left London bound for Otago.
SCOTTISH HIGHLAND CLEARANCES
The Highland Clearances took place in Scotland, between 1700 and the mid-1800's.
It was during this time that landlords threw thousands of families off their land and many homes were burnt down to stop people returning to them.
The land was then used by landlords to run large sheep farms which were more profitable than small family farms that had previously occupied them.
A potato blight also reached the Scottish Highlands in 1846, devastating crops as it had in Ireland. These two incidents lead to much hunger and suffering.
Up to a half of the Scottish immigrants to New Zealand were agricultural labourers or farmers who were effected by the re-organisation of farming and agriculture that followed the Clearances.
SCOTTISH CULTURE
Scottish settlers who came to Otago were mainly from the Lowlands but they bought with them the Highlanders love of kilts, pipes and games.
As a consequence pipe bands became a focal point of Scottish society in Dunedin along with Highland dancing.
The Caledonian Society of Otago was established in August 12th 1862 to promote Scottish literature, culture and sports.
The society went on to organise the first Highland Games in 1862 which included Highland dancing, marching, pipeband competitions, and tossing the caber.
These competition are still held today - 2010 is the 148th year of the games.
USEFUL BOOKS
- First Church of Otago : and how it got there by Arthur L. Salmond
- Frontier New Zealand : the search for Eldorado, 1800-1920 by Duncan MacKay
- History of emigration from Scotland by Mike Hirst
- Life during the Highland Clearances by Margaret Stephen
- Lives of pioneer women in New Zealand : from their letters, diaries and reminiscences
- New Zealand the story so far : a short history by Edmund Bohan
- Settlement by sale : 19th Century immigration to New Zealand by Gainor W. Jackson
- World Book Encyclopedia - Vol 9., 2009, p. 229