Events In History
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15 February 1882First shipment of frozen meat leaves NZThe Dunedin sailed from Port Chalmers with New Zealand's first refrigerated cargo destined for Britain, pioneering the frozen meat and dairy trade that would become the cornerstone of the economy. Read more...
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23 March 1848The John Wickliffe anchors at Port ChalmersThe first of the Otago Association's immigrant ships brought Scottish settlers who were escaping from an economic depression and a split between the Church of Scotland and the Free Church Presbyterians. Read more...
Articles
Antarctica and New Zealand
NZ and Antarctica share a long and rich history. From Tuati in 1839 to Edmund Hillary in the 1950s and more recent scientists, Kiwis have explored, examined and endured the frozen continent.
- Page 4 - Sites of significanceThere are connections between places in Antarctica and New Zealand, and between places in New Zealand and Antarctica.
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14 km north-east of Dunedin, Port Chalmers is on the north side of Otago Harbour. The locality, known to Māori as Kōpūtai, is where local Ngāi Tahu sold the Otago block to the New Zealand Company in 1844. A European town was founded there when Otago was settled in 1848. The Union Steam Ship Company started in 1875. In 1882 the first frozen meat shipped from New Zealand to the northern hemisphere left from the port. From 1881, when the Otago Harbour Board opened the dredged Victoria Channel from Port Chalmers to Dunedin, the ‘port’ and ‘city’ factions fought over which would be the main port. Port Chalmers finally won that battle when it became the lower South Island’s deep-water container port (opened in 1977).
