The Centre for Global Migrations and the History Programme are jointly hosting Sean Brosnahan's talk titled 'Journey to New Edinburgh: The Story of Otago's Pioneers'.

Following the success of Toitῡ's documentaries Journey of the Otagos and Journey to Lan Yuan, Toitū's exhibition team is now turning its attention to the Museum's foundation story: the coming of the Scots to found New Edinburgh in 1848. The documentary will present the causes and consequences of Scottish emigration to Otago, taking in both the Scottish background and the New Zealand foreground. Who came? Why did they leave Scotland? Why did they choose to come to Otago, the furthest destination from Scotland in the world? And what was distinctive about the society they developed here, the New Edinburgh in the South Seas? The film project will fuse the 'big picture' of Scotland's 19th-century diaspora with the 'micro' history of individuals and families to create an intimate picture of Otago's founding group.

Seán Brosnahan is curator at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum.