Port Chalmers Maritime Museum
Museum in Port Chalmers, Dunedin, New Zealand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Port Chalmers Maritime Museum is a museum in the southern South Island of New Zealand.
| Port Chalmers Maritime Museum | |
|---|---|
 Interactive map of the Port Chalmers Maritime Museum area | |
| Former names | Port Chalmers Post Office |
| General information | |
| Type | Museum |
| Location | 19 Beach Street, Port Chalmers, Dunedin, New Zealand |
| Coordinates | 45°48′54″S 170°37′22″E |
| Year built | 1876–1877 |
| Renovated | 2023–2024 |
| Renovation cost | $NZ 3.5 million |
| Owner | Port Otago |
| Affiliation | Port Chalmers Historical Society |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | possibly Pierre Burrows |
| Architecture firm | Public Works Department |
| Renovating team | |
| Renovating firm | Calder Stewart |
| Website | |
| portmuseum | |
| Designated | 24 November 1983 (former post office building only) |
| Reference no. | 359 |
The museum, located in the historic port town of Port Chalmers is owned and operated by the Port Chalmers Historic Society and is open to the public.
Since 2020, the museum has been sponsored by Port Otago, which runs the adjacent Port Chalmers container port.[1] Under their auspices, the museum's old post office building has been thoroughly renovated, and in 2023 a new glass annex was built connecting the building with the headquarters of Port Otago,[2] who operate Port Chalmers' adjacent container port. The annex was built by Milton-based company Calder Stewart, and was the main part of a $NZ 3.5 million redevelopment of the museum facilities.[3] The annex was officially opened in October 2024.[4]
Old post office building
The museum is located in a complex which surrounds the town's former Post Office, a Heritage New Zealand Category 1 Historic Place, built in 1877,[5] which was built on reclaimed land on the site of the former Koputai Beach. This was the original landing site of the John Wickliffe, the first of the settler ships for the new settlement of Otago, which arrived in 1848. The museum moved into the old Post Office building when the post office closed in 1988.
Three plaques are located on the building's outer wall, recognising different events in New Zealand's maritime history. These comprise a plaque acknowledging the sacrifices of New Zealand Merchant seamen during the Second World War, unveiled on 14 February 1993; a plaque acknowledging the part played by the port and local residents during the South African Wars; and a third plaque unveiled in February 2001 on the 50th anniversary of the 1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute.[6]
Exhibits
The Post Office wing's Main Gallery contains many items relating to the maritime history of both the port and New Zealand in general. This gallery contains a significant number of items relating to the Union Steam Ship Company, formerly one of the port's principal employers. Attached to it is the Pioneer Room, which contains more general exhibits relating to the early days of Port Chalmers.[7] The Main Gallery also includes an art display area featuring regular exhibitions by local and visiting artists.
The 2023 annex is divided into two main exhibit areas, the "Wall of Ships" — which consists of a large number of accurate scale models of historic ships which have a connection with the port[8] — and a laneway containing the "ABCDarium", an alphabetically organised series of exhibits relating to both seafaring and the history of Port Chalmers.[9] Alongside the Wall of Ships is a third exhibit, a massive ship's propeller recreated from blades uncovered during the extension of the port's facilities. Elsewhere in the museum are cannons from the nineteenth-century pirate ship Don Juan which was wrecked at Deborah Bay, 3 kilometres north of the museum.[10]
A further feature of the annex is a viewing gallery which offers a close-up overview of the container port, allowing visitors to see its daily work operations at first hand.[11]
The museum is notable for its collection of artefacts relating to early Antarctic exploration.[12] Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton, and Admiral Richard E. Byrd all used Port Chalmers as staging point on their trips to the Antarctic, and it was Scott's final departure point on his fateful last expedition. The collection also has extensive archives, including a significant collection of photographs and manuscripts.