Books on the history of Otago and Southland people and places. Regional local history.
All these fortunabooks.com prices are in New Zealand dollars, and there is a minimum order required of NZD$20 excluding postage.
The story of the Fiordland tramping tracks and huts, and the history of the Milford and Dusky Sounds area of Southland.
ISBN0589004727
VG+ hardback in VG+ dust jacket
$25 C/C
Reed 1971 FIRST EDITION 181pp + plates, map endpapers.
[#3083 ]
The memoirs of a local GP in Wakatipu / Queenstown area for many years.
Dust jacket is a painting by Douglas Badcock.
VG hardback in VG dust jacket.
$20 C/C
Reed 1967 reprint hard cover, 175pp+ plates.
[#4853 + (1970 edition) #3191 ]
Annual school magazine from Archerfield, one of several schools delivering secondary education to girls in Dunedin.
It closed in 1944.
Dunedin, education, genealogy, school yearbook, history
VG- with stapled paper covers.
One plate detached and the verso has two names and addresses in contemporary ink, minor foxing, rear page (printers imprint) totally covered with signatures of school members.
$30 C/B
Otago Daily Times 1935, 39pp + 2 plates.
[#4835 ]
Annual school magazine from Archerfield, one of several schools delivering secondary education to girls in Dunedin.
It closed in 1944.
Dunedin, education, genealogy, school yearbook, history
VG with stapled paper covers, name at head of title page.
$30 C/B
Otago Daily Times 1937, 40pp + 2 plates.
[#4836 ]
Dunedin and New Zealand in the Sixties.
Eyewitness account of the Dunedin and surrounds of the 1860s.
Illustrated.
otago history
VG softback with dust jacket.
$25 C/A
Reed for the Dunedin Public Library Association 1952 first edition, 36pp.
[#5577 ]
Reminiscences of a former Mayoress of Dunedin including the first frozen meat shipment aboard the 'Dunedin' which her father participated in.
Much of her world wide travels and political career.
politics, travel, otago, high society, memoir, New Zealand women
G+ hardback with no jacket.
A small amount of red staining to the upper joint and lower fore edge board, signed across frontis by the author, minor foxing to closed edges.
$30 C/B
John McIndoe 1947 first edition cloth, 284pp + plates.
[#5390 ]
Published for the Centenary of a school district in the Catlins.
From Owaki School 1875 to Owaka District High School 1975
Owaki, Ahuriri, Glenomaru, Catlins River, Hina Hina, Tahatika, Ratanui, Romareka, Browns and Owaka Valley, Purekireki, Katea, Tarara, Purekauiti, Houipapa, Ahuriri Flat-Otekura, Tawanui, Puketiro, Pounawea, Otago
G+ softback, name at front and some wear to covers.
$40 C/C
Catlins Schools' Centennial Committee 1976, 168pp.
[#3945 ]
A Jubilee Memorial of the Presbyterian Church of Otago. Includes mention of the original settlement of Otago, and the purchase of land from Maori. Captain Cargill's arrival etc. Many photographs.
G+ hardback in white buckram with red decoration, slightly soiled from handling, corners bumped, front fep missing, frontis and tissue present, untrimmed closed edges slightly foxed, small chip from head of title and contents where carelessly opened (cut). No jacket.
$35 C/C
J Wilkie & Co. 1898, viii + 242pp + plates, folding plates and diagrams
[#3298 ]
Shipping Arrivals and Departures, Otago Harbour and Coast 1770-1860.
ISBN 9780908774678
Southern Heritage 150 series Number 11.
genealogy, immigration, history, records, shipping manifests
VG softback.
$25 C/B
Otago Heritage Books 2002 first edition, 272pp
[#5541 ]
Official reports and surveys on the proposed Clutha River hydro-electric and irrigation scheme.
Includes folding charts and diagrams, some photos, various official reports etc.
otago, clutha, hydro electric scheme, dam, cromwell
VG- paper bound typescript with stapled binding with taped spine as issued.
$50 B/C
Clutha Valley Development Commission 1974, approx 100pp.
[#3929 ]
An overview of the history of the area that was to be developed for the Clyde hydro-electric power dam, and the political and social aspects leading up to the decision to go ahead with the scheme.
ISBN 0908565569
Cromwell, Lake Hawea, Lake Wanaka, hydro-electrical power,
VG softback with pictorial card wrappers lightly faded, SIGNED by author to title page
$35 C/C
John McIndoe 1978 First Edition, 250pp + plates.
[#5643 ]
The history of the Presbyterian Synod of Otago and Southland. Includes Missionary work, Knox Residential College. Gives much local information pertaining to the development of Otago and Southland, and prominent members of the church and community.
This copy is one of 200 numbered and signed copies in the deluxe edition. Signed by the author and the convenors of the Centennial Committee and the Historical Committee.
G+ leather bound hardback. Spine sun-faded, spine ends rubbed, internally tidy except some minor pencil notes to margins.
$35 C/C
Presbyterian Bookroom 1948, xvi 368pp + plates.
[#3301 ]
The history of the Presbyterian Synod of Otago and Southland. Includes Missionary work, Knox Residential College. Gives much local information pertaining to the development of Otago and Southland, and prominent members of the church and community.
VG hardback with no dust jacket. A clean copy of the standard edition.
$25 C/C
Presbyterian Bookroom (1948) cloth, xvi 368pp + plates.
[#2000,3311 ]
A biography of the Warden of Selwyn College, Dunedin 1919-1950.
education, otago
VG hardback in VG dust jacket.
$20 C/B
Pegasus Press 1977 first edition, 79pp + plates.
[#1942/5259 ]
A reprint of 1888 original penned by a settler who arrived in 1860 on the 'Clontarf' to the Lake Wakatipu area.
Otago
VG soft cover with stapled wrappers
$15 C/A
Lakes District Centennial Museum Arrowtown 1969, 60pp.
[#4513 ]
A history of 50 years of service from the Alexandra Rotary Club.
ISBN0908900120
otago, friendly society, history, community group
VG perfect bound softcover.
$15 B/A
Alexandra Rotary 1993 first edition, 143pp with illustrations.
[#2318 ]
Seven essays on various aspects of the province of Otago and its natural and human history.
regional history, physiography, climate, vegetation and soils, southland, fiordland
VG hardback with no jacket
$20 C/B
Otago Centennial Historical Publications 1948 first edition, 82pp + plates and folding map.
[#4936 ]
The story of the pioneer settlers of Otago. Includes maori days, gold rushes etc.
VG hardback in VG- dust jacket with some short scuffs or chips to spine ends and upper joint.
$30 C/C
Whitcombe and Tombs 1967, xv 191pp.
[NZ133 ]
The story of the pioneer settlers of Otago. Includes maori days, gold rushes etc.
ISBN072330551X
VG hardback in VG- dust jacket with some short edge tears and surface rubbing.
$30 C/C
Whitcoulls 1978, 191pp + plates..
[#3104 ]
Fascinating history of the gold rushes in Otago and Southland.
Very well illustrated with photographs.
ISBN 0908629044
Preservation Inlet, Waiau, Orepuki, Round Hill, Mataura, Nokomai, Waikaia, Golden Site mine, Morning Star battery, quartz
G+ softback with name and address to spine edge of cover and first page.
$20 B/B
Craig Printing 1986, 76pp.
[#4999 ]
Early days in Otago and Southland. The biography of John Turnbull Thomson, Surveyor-General of New Zealand. Thomson began surveying Otago in 1856, and was the first European to see such places as Lake Wanaka, Lake Hawea. Early New Zealand exploration and Otago history.
VG hardback in VG dust jacket
$45 C/B
Reed 1971 first edition, 146 pages + plates and map endpapers. ISBN0589006541 [#2604 new zealand history otago ]
Hocken Library Publication No. 3.
The scope of this bibliography is the maps of towns published before 1876 by the Otago and Southland Provincial Surveys, and after that date to the end of the century, by the General Survey Department
VG softback, folded and stapled through spine.
$25 C/A
University of Otago Press 1968, 56 pages + folding map. [#2873 new zealand, history, otago ]
Otago centennial , humorous cartoons pertaining to colonisation etc and the 100 years of events, some have been 'altered' in pencil with borders given or segments filled in ( graphite pencil), still tidy though.
new zealand, history, cartoon, caricature, graphic art
VG- softback, printed wrappers stapled at spine.
$20 B/B
Whitcombe and Tombs, 1948. First Edition
[#4449 ]
VG
$35 C/C [NZ 88]
E & S Livingstone 1964 first edition hardcover, 381pp.
The life and times of the celebrated Charles R Thatcher, the 'Inimitable' songster of the New Zealand goldfields. Balladeer of Australian and New Zealand goldfields in 1850-1870s. Complete with bibliography, and the lyrics of 24 songs, with the names of the tunes they were set to.
ISBN0002169037
VGhardback in VG dust jacket.
$25 C/C
Collins 1977 first edition. 194pp + plates.
[#2194, NZ119]
Author collects the reminiscences of Otago Old-Timers.
ISBN0589012274
oral history, interviews, new zealand history, otago
VG hardback in VG dust jacket with light wear to edges
$20 C/C
Reed 1979 first edition hard cover, 180pp.
[#2041/2549 ]
The Remarkables high country sheep station in southern New Zealand, with historical information on those who have run it as a business as well as the native wildlife and the landscape etc.
ISBN0589010093
otago, history, farms
VG hardback with VG dust jacket.
Small name and address to half-title page.
$35 C/C
Reed 1978, 190pp many black and white photos in text, map end papers.
[#4255 ]
William James Mudie Larnach CMG (27 January 1833 12 October 1898), is best known in New Zealand for his grand house Larnach Castle in Dunedin. With varying success in business and politics, he was appointed Chief Colonial Manager of the Bank of Otago, whose decline he could not reverse.
A number of factors may have contributed to his decision to commit suicide in a committee room at Parliament.
ISBN0864660006 / 0959785779
biography, otago, dunedin, politics, new zealand
VG softback with minor wear to covers.
$15 C/B
University of Oatgo 1993, 136pp.
[#3805 ]
History of Lake Wakatipu and the district around Queenstown
VG hardback in VG dust jacket, book has slight surface mottling to cloth boards $15 A/B Whitcombe and Tombs 1968 first edition cloth, 168pp. B&W illustrations throughout. [#2342/4420 ]
Shotover River near Queenstown in Otago. High country mustering at Mount Aurum etc.
VG hardback in VG dust jacket with some edge wear
$20 C/B
Reed 1965 or later, 160pp + plates [#3139/3308/3888/3910/4038 ]
The story of St Hilda's Collegiate School 1896-1996.
Founded by the first Anglican bishop of Dunedin, Bishop Samuel Nevill and staffed by the Sisters of the Church.
The sisters withdrew from the school in the 1930s and is integrated into the state school system.
school, history, centenary publication, girls school
VG softback
$25 B/C
St Hildas Board of Trustees 1996, 221pp.
[#4064 ]
Muriel May's memoirs of fifty years in the Otago education system.
ISBN0723303827
biography, education, otago
VG hardback with VG dust jacket
$15 C/B
Whitcombe and Tombs 1973 first edition, 157pp. [#4556 ]
VG hardback with G chipped dust jacket
$10 C/B
Whitcombe and Tombs 1973 first edition, 157pp. [#4557]
Anecdotes of the Alexandra Volunteer Fire Brigade
ISBN0473011549
fire fighting, social history, otago
VG softback Signed by author.
$20 C/B
Silverdale Publications 1991, 157pp with illustrations and maps.
[#1918 ]
History of The Presbyterian Church in Southland 1856-1956
church history, christianity, new zealand
VG hardback with no dust jacket.
$25 C/B
Presbyterian Bookroom 1956 first edition, 152pp + plates, appendices and index
[#2173, 3627 ]
A day and boarding school for boys in Oamaru.
The school has a house system with four houses, Don, Forrester, Lee and Sutherland.
otago, education, old boys, school history
VG hardback with no dust jacket
$55 C/C
Whitcombe and Tombs 1958 revised edition (after 1933), xvi 465pp+ plates.
[#1135/1801 ]
A history of the Otago Harbour Board and the Ports at Dunedin and Port Chalmers.
A beautiful production with quality paper, many photo plates and maps including a folding one.
shipping, merchant marine, economic history
VG+ cloth hardback in VG- dust jacket with a few closed repaired tears.
$35 C/C
Whitcombe and Tombs 1951 first edition, xx 428pp
[#4885 ]
A history of the area near Wanaka, Wakatipu, Arrowtown, with details of gold mining etc.
ISBN0723301948
Otago
VG hardback in G dust jacket which is worn at edges with some loss.
$30 C/C
Whitcombe and Tombs 1973 ( fifth edition), xv 368pp + plates and maps.
[#2174/ 2198/2990]
A regional History of Mosgiel with many historic photographs throughout.
ISBN 0959775501
Taieri, Waihola, Silverstream, Melville Park
VG hardback in VG dust jacket.
The slightly sun-faded dust jacket has small tear at top of front panel, gift inscription to fep otherwise tidy copy.
$35 C/C
Mosgiel Borough Council 1985 First Edition, xv 408pp.
[#5653 ]
An exhaustive survey and history of the Waitaki River catchment and the communities and infrastructure of the area.
ISBN 0473000806
north otago, south canterbury, regional history
VG hardback in VG dust jacket.
$35 C/C
Waitaki Lakes Committee 1981 first edition, xvii 169pp.
[#4959 ]
History of the various departments of the University over the years, and medical developments.
ISBN0473047314
medicine, health, otago university, history
VG+ hardback with no dust jacket, name to first page.
$45 C/B
Otago Medical Research Society 1997, 176pp.
[#3966 ]
A Story of a pioneer family in the Otago gold fields.
The author has placed his fictional McDonald family into a narrative based on historical research, and most of the people they meet are based on real historical personages.
ISBN9416479003045
Otago, gold rush, historical fiction, scottish immigrants
VG softback with author's gift inscription.
$25 C/C
Caxton Press 2005 first edition, 328pp.
[#3663 ]
VG softback.
$25 C/C
Caxton Press 2005 first edition, 328pp.
[#3702 ]
This work focuses on the complex issue of provincial identity to show what is unique about Otago and it's people.
Reissued in softcovers.
ISBN 0868680931
Murihiku, Scottish in New Zealand, colonial
VG softback
$40 B/C
John McIndoe 1983 reprint, xv 270pp.
[#5156 ]
The centennial history publication of this construction company from the beginnings as two independent building companies in Dunedin in 1910, WH Naylor (Hugh Naylor born Clyde 1884)and Love Brothers Construction, formed by brothers JY, Bob and Bill Love in Port Chalmers.
In 1969, the Love Construction Company and WH Naylor merged to form Naylor Love.
ISBN9780473166809
company history, otago, construction, business, building
VG+ softback
$30 C/D
Advertising and Art 2010 first edition, 394pp.
[#4323 ]
The Story of Waitaki Girl's High School 1887-1987.
Each author writes a chapter on a specific period of the school.
ISBN 0473004720
education, Otago, Oamaru, WGHS, girl's schools, M K Dunning
VG softback
$25 B/B
Waitaki Girls' High School Centennial Committee 1987 first edition, 218pp.
[#4808 ]
A complete history of the European society in Otago. From the earliest explorers, contact with Maori, colonisation and development of the settlements. Illustrated in line throughout.
VG hardback with no dust jacket. Red cloth.
$25 C/C
Reed 1947, 367pp.
[#3259/4809 ]
Author credited as "Extra master mariner, Hon. Bard Gaelic Society of New Zealand.
Assorted collected writings over the years by this chap who started life on the Isle of Skye as a herring fisher speaking only Gaelic.
Much to do with the sea, New Zealand people and places, with emphasis on Otago, his journeys in foreign parts etc.
Some of the poetry is in Gaelic
scottish, scottish diaspora, literature, celtic new zealand
VG cloth hardback, faint india ink writing to paste down, light foxing to closed edges.
$35 C/B
David M Lister 1927 first, 362pp.
[#4352 ]
An illustrated history of Wanaka, Hawea, Tarras, and surrounding districts of Otago.
VG- hardback in VG- dust jacket. Small area stained to top edge of rear book board and top margin of a few pages. Dust jacket has an age browned spine and some handling soiling. Owner's inscription to fep dated 1958.
$45 C/C
Otago Centennial Historical Publications 1957 first edition, 274pp + plates.
[#3352]
VG hardback with no dust jacket.
$30 C/C
Otago Centennial Historical Publications 1957 first edition, 274pp + plates.
[#4990]
Souvenir booklet for the 50th Anniversary, 1911-1961.
With history of the club and its members, including photographs.
Dunedin, beach life, history, sports, social club, St Clair beach
VG stapled softback, name to first page
$35 C/A
St Clair Surf Life Saving Club / Otago Daily Times 1961, 64pp.
[#5098 ]
The Nineteenth century founders of Otago and the pioneering women who helped establish the Otago settlement.
VG hardback in VG- dust jacket , slightly soiled or faded, light rubbing to joints.
$45 C/B
Otago Centennial Historical Publications 1948, 100pp+ plates. [#2820 new zealand history, ]
Gertrude Dempsey has written about the island she loves. The history of Rakiura, Port William, Ulva Island, Moturau Mona, Ringa Ringa, the whaling base, Paterson Inlet, and the wildlife including mutton-birds.
VG hardback THIS COPY HAS NO dust jacket
$15 C/B
Reed 1951 first edition, 64pp + plates
[#3110 ]
A new work by Gertrude, two-thirds of which is revised material from Isle of the Glowing Skies and The Little World of Stewart Island.
The landscape, the wildlife, and the people of Rakiura.
Foveaux Strait, Oban, Paterson Inlet, Port Pegasus, Mason Bay
VG+ hardback in VG+ dust jacket.
$35 C/C
Reed 1967 First Edition, 208pp + plates, pictorial endpapers.
[#4983 ]
The story of the lives and families of the pioneers from the whaling days, when Maori and Pakeha joined together to build a community in this most southern New Zealand region.
ISBN0589004549
Foveaux Strait, Halfmoon Bay, Rakiura, Lewis Acker, John Kaiparohu Bragg, whaling, southland
VG hardback in VG dust jacket
$45 C/C
Reed 1970 first edition, 249pp + plates, map end papers.
[#4051 ]
VG hardback in VG dust jacket, title page trimmed at head.
$40 C/C
Reed 1970 first edition, 249pp + plates, map end papers.
[#647 ]
A history of Strath Taieri and Macraes Districts in Otago including early farming and the gold rush.
Otago Centennial Historical Publication.
local history, colonial, early settlers, scottish, genealogy
VG hardback with no dust jacket.
$45 C/B
Whitcombe and Tombs 1949, first edition, 204 pp.
[#3633 ]
VG softback with slight crease to rear cover $15 B/A, McIndoe 1975 first reprint, softcovered, 46pp + plates. [#2317 otago ]
A collection of essays, columns, articles and poetry that concentrate on wild places and outdoor pursuits engaged in by this conservationist and author who also is a passionate fly-fisher and tramper.
With a focus on southern areas like the MacKenzie and Central Otago, and a good deal about angling.
Illustrated with colour photographs.
ISBN9781869621421
angling, hiking, nature, ecology
VG softback with French Flaps.
$35 C/D
Random House/Godwit 2008 first edition, 492pp.
[#3838 ]
A family and regional history of pioneers in the Lake Hawea area of Central Otago.
Includes genealogical charts of the Urquhart, Trustrum, Matheson, John and Taylor families.
ISBN0473055023
FINE hardback in Near fine dust jacket.
$75 B/D
K A Hawkes 1998 first edition limited to 1000 copies. viii 159pp+ xxv pp.
[#3824 ]
A centennial history of the Webb family of Cromwell and their orchard, Stonehurst.
ISBN9780473302504
otago, family history, John Robert Webb, Florence Harris, genealogy
VG+ softback
$20 C/B
Ainsley Webb 2014 first edition, 135pp illustrated throughout.
[#5071 ]
The first fifty years of the Mount Cook Company.
Originally a road transport business, the Mount Cook Tourist Company of New Zealand became a public company in 1928 and became the largest tourist organisation in New Zealand.
Renamed the Mount Cook and Southern Lakes Tourist Company, in 1976 it became The Mount Cook Group Ltd.
Notable for the use of light planes flying in alpine areas.
ISBN0002169533
Ohau Lodge, Coronet, Queenstown
VG hardback in VG- dust jacket with short edge tears at spine ends.
$25 C/C
Collins 1979 first edition, 218pp.
[#3969 ]
Early days in Otago and Canterbury, author was a sole teacher in Waitohi Flat Irish settlement. Also in the King Country.
ISBN
VG hardbackwith VG dust jacket with handling wear
$15 C/C
Paul's Book Arcade 1959 hard cover, 240pp + plates.[#1788 + NZ110 new zealand, biography ]
Local history of the Balfour District of Northern Southland.
ISBN0476009847
Waimea, Ardlussa, Cattle Flat, Blck Swamp, Longridge Village, Kingston Crossing, Otapiri, Glenure
VG softback
$85 B/C
Balfour and Districts Historical Society 2004, 470pp + plates and maps.
[#3593 ]