New Zealand’s Otago Settlement, sponsored by the…

New Zealand’s Otago Settlement, sponsored by the Lay Association of The Free Church of Scotland, materializes in March 1848 with the arrival of the first two immigrant ships from Greenock on the Firth of Clyde: the John Wickliffe and the Philip Laing.

Captain William Cargill, a veteran of the Peninsular War, serves as the colony's first leader: Otago citizens subsequently elect him to the office of Superintendent.

The Reverend Thomas Burns, a nephew of the poet Robbie Burns, is the spiritual guide.

Dunedin, at the head of Otago Harbour, is founded as the principal town of the Scottish settlement.

The name comes from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the Scottish capital.

Initial settlement concentrates on port and city, then expands, notably to the southwest, where the fertile Taieri Plains offer good farmland.