Celebrating the Collections & Archives of Otautau Museum

Sapper Magnus John (Leslie or Les) Thomson # 75440, Engineers :     AT LEFT: “Les” Thomson, outside the old Thomson & Georgeson Factory on corner of Eton & Chester Sts., Otautau (for whole photo, see post on A.D. Thomson) Taken off 2010.67 from Otautau Museum Collection – Photo in Public Domain  Born 1 st December 1988, and named Magnus John, but known as Leslie and called “Les”. His probate names him this way: THOMSON  - Magnus John, also known as THOMSON  - Magnus Leslie of Otautau and Riverton, Retired Builder. The second youngest son of (John) called James and (William) MARGARET Thomson of Otautau, Les had two elder brothers who he may have been named after – 1) John Magnus who had been born five years earlier and sadly died at just 9 months old and – 2) John Leslie who was born just a couple of years earlier and who also tragically died at 9 months old. The children were all born in Invercargill, before t...

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...