Across the Ocean Waves:  The Voyage Out: 1 1/2 hours

What was it like crossing the oceans to come here in a nineteenth-century sailing ship?

This interactive exhibition and programme is an accurate recreation of the steerage quarters of an immigrant ship bound for Otago in the days of sail and the hardships and challenges faced by the immigrants.

Curriculum Links: Social Studies, Technology and English.

Museum Visit: Guided tour of the exhibition.

Interactive Activities: View audiovisual presentations, experience the sleeping and eating quarters of an immigrant ship and shipboard games.

New Teaching Resource available.

Early Settlers: Settling In: 1 1/2 hours

This programme explores the issues and challenges behind the early settlers’ decisions to come to Otago, the voyage out, what happened when they got here, their relationships with the local Maori and what happened over the next few years.

Curriculum Links: Social Studies, English, Art and Technology.

Museum Visit: Guided tour of the Hall of History, Portrait Gallery, Across The Ocean Waves and the Transport Gallery.

Interactive Activities: Research, role-plays, period costume, washing with a scrubbing board and handling objects of the past.

Resource kit: Domestic items and clothing from this era are available.

On the Move: Transport in Otago: 1 1/2 hours

A journey through the modes of transport (road, rail, and sea) for the Otago people from 1848 to the 1980s, focussing on the technological changes of transport that occurred from early settlement to present day.

Curriculum Links: Social Studies, Technology and Science.

Museum Visit: A comprehensive tour of the Transport Gallery, Josephine’s Showcase and Across The Ocean Waves exhibition.

Interactive Activities: Take a seat on the cable car, ride the penny-farthing and explore the crashed car and undertake research.

GOLD! GOLD! GOLD! 1 1/2 hours

An in-depth look at the history of gold mining in the Otago region and the effect the gold rush had on Dunedin.

Curriculum Links: Social Studies, Technology, English, Maths, Art and Role-Playing.

Museum Visit: Tour the Hall of History, The Portrait Gallery, Windows on a Chinese Past exhibition and the Transport Gallery.

Interactive Activities: View film footage of gold mining, role-play, dressing up in period costume, research, handling objects of the past related to gold mining.

Terrific Toys and Games of the Past: 2 hours

Visit our new Toy Town exhibition

Learning about the toys and games played by children over the years, focusing mainly on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Curriculum Links: Technology, Social Studies, and Art.

Museum Visit: Observing various toys and games in the Museum and Education Suite of the Maori and Victorian era including modern toys.

Interactive Activities: ‘Hands-on’, toys and games to explore participating in Victorian parlour games, and making Victorian toys.

Sealers and Whalers: 1 1/2 hours

Using photos and whaling equipment on display in the Museum to explore the lives of the sealers and whalers from 1790 until the 1930s.

Curriculum Links: Social Studies, Technology, and Art.

Museum Visit: Viewing the photos and artefacts in the Hall of History, exploring the whaling boat, whaling equipment and whare rau. 

Interactive Activities: Research, period costume and handling objects of the past related to this fascinating era.

Fabulous Fashion Down the Years: 2 hours

A comprehensive look at how fashion has changed in New Zealand from the 1840s to the present day. Fashions first changed in New Zealand for comfort and ease of use and the biggest impact was on the lives of New Zealand women.

Curriculum Links: Social Studies, Technology, Art and Science.

Interactive Activities: Observation and discussion of fashion down the years, dressing up in costume, and discussing how fashions changed along with technological changes in transport, washing and clothes for work/social events and leisure. The programme ends with each class performing a fashion parade which illustrates the changes in fashion over the last decade.

Resource Kit: Clothing Kits are available from 1848 to present day.

Fast Facts: 1 to 2 hours

A great way to see the entire Museum if you don’t want to focus on one topic. Your class will get an overall look at the Museum and Otago’s history.

Museum Visit: The class is split into even groups and each one views the museum in order according to a map. Each group follows a different route. At each display the children have a research activity to complete.

Interactive Activities: Research activity, the whare rau for the children to sit in, penny-farthing to ride, cable car to sit on, crashed car to climb into.

 Kai Tahu Whanui ki Otago: 1 to 2 hours

Our exhibition explains the three tribes that make up the Kai Tahu Whanui (Ngai Tahu). We look at the Treaty of Waitangi, the spirituality of the tribes, food gathering (including whaling and muttonbirding), and the use of harakeke (New Zealand flax).

Curriculum Links: Social Studies, Technology, English and Art.

Museum Visit: The class will view the whole Kai Tahu Whanui exhibition. They will discuss the conflict between the settlers and the Maori, the treaty,  and everyday life of the early Maori for example food gathering techniques and transportation.

Interactive Activities: Sitting in the whare rau, watching a video on mutton birding, research activity and viewing toys and participating in Maori games.

Puppets: 1 hour OSM visit (see also Shadow Puppets)

This visit is run in conjunction with the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.

One class at the Otago Settlers Museum gets the opportunity to explore the history of puppetry in the Education Suite through discussion and hands-on activities. The other, at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery partakes in a workshop making puppets. Each class is for an hour and then they swap over.

Curriculum Links: Technology, Art, Social Studies and English.

Interactive Activities: Explore some modern-day puppets, view a puppet video from the film archive, view a ventriloquist’s dummy, try their talent at being puppeteers, make a simple puppet as well as watching a Punch and Judy puppet show.

New Programmes Planned for 2006:

Term One: Chinese Otago

Term Two: Kai Tahu Rock Art

Term Four: Dance in Dunedin  

Customised Options:

Optional topics or themes can be arranged to provide an individual programme to suit the strand, achievement objectives and learning outcomes of the curriculum. 

Optional programmes include: ‘Walk The City’, ‘Colonial Kitchens’, ‘Then and Now’, ‘Steam Engines’, ‘Change in Dunedin’s Landscape’, ‘School Days’, ‘Housekeeping Made Easy’ ‘Communication’, 19th Century Otago Leaders’, and current exhibitions.

Watch out for flyers every term as more exhibitions, topics, resource kits and teachers’ guides are continually being produced.