Otago Anniversary Day – March 23, 2027

History of Otago Anniversary Day

The New Zealand city of Otago has had human settlers for a long time, probably since the Māori moved there in the 1300s. By many accounts, they lived in relative isolation from the world, at least until the first European explorers came their way in the late 18th century.

While the first of these explorers — most famously, Captain James Cook — did not approach Otago, they did report to have seen a fire burning in this peninsula in 1770, which is recorded as the first human contact between the Māori and the Europeans in Otago.

Over time, more and more European settlers came to New Zealand, building homes and lives on these lands. Otago, so far untouched by most European settlers, was still owned by the Māori. This changed in the 1830s and 1840s, however, when the Māori agreed to sell off portions of their traditional land to the European settlers. A sale of land on July 31, 1844, for £2,400, to a U.K.-based company paved the way for a major European settlement in Otago. The initial name of this settlement was to be New Edinburgh, but they finally went with Otago instead.

And then, in 1848, the first wave of settlers came via two ships — the ‘John Wickliffe,’ which arrived first, and the ‘Philip Laing,’ which docked three weeks later, carrying twice the number of passengers than the first ship. These settlers founded the town of Otago in1853, creating a region called the Otago Province.

By 1875, all such regions (called provinces) were abolished, including the Otago Province. Only their names and geographical boundaries are still around today and are now called provincial districts. Many of them celebrate their own special anniversaries as a public holidays, although the dates and celebrations for each region vary.

The absence of provinces caused many New Zealanders to ask for the abolishment of these Provincial Anniversary holidays too, a movement that gained popularity in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s. However, these holidays live on, as many regions have long-standing traditions and events for these weekends.