Celebrating the Collections & Archives of Otautau Museum

Born 1st Sept 1886 at High Mark, Wigtownshire, Scotland, Mary Robson Donnan was the only child of Martha Biggart (nee Hogarth) and William Donnan. Although her parents had married in Glasgow, William went out to Australia, before going on to New Zealand, where Martha and Mary joined him. The family eventually came to Ōtautau, moving there in 1897 when Mary was still a child, living at Woodside Farm, shown below: ‘Woodside’ Ōtautau NZ, 1919. From Ōtautau Museum “Miss Shaw” Collection #2007.2.3.54 (Photographer, Mary Donnan) PHOTO – IN PUBLIC DOMAIN From here, Mary attended Ōtautau School, and it was there she met with Ina Shaw; they grew up as best friends and went on to share a lot of their lives together, even moving together when their respective parents died. After leaving school, then going to Otago Girls High School, also doing teachers training at Dunedin Training College, Miss Donnan was the “infant class” school teacher at Ōtautau School from 1908 - for over 30 years! ...

Today - the Tuesday after Easter is the ‘new’ date the Anniversary of Southland, NZ, is observed. TYPICAL EARLY SOUTHLAND SCENE: "Dad" Chilton, cutting oats with a horse-drawn binder in a paddock behind 'Vale View' their property by Otautau, early 1900's (photo kindly donated by Peter & Audrey Campbell - no known Copyright Restrictions) See here for photos and information on Southland today: https://southlandnz.com/ Today being the Southland Anniversary Day, is only a new development and one which was recently bought into being after much protest and plea’s from a large portion of Southland/Murihiku’s residents. The original day had been observed on 1 April, a date just after it was finally founded as its own province in 1861. This day of celebration was considered annoying by many of the province’s modern peoples, as it was close to both Easter and ANZAC and only a single day holiday. By sheer sense of purpose and pig-headedness, many started...