Keep up to date with projects,
activities and news from the Otago Branch Committee here.
A regular newsletter covering the wider Otago & Southland region is published
and distributed to all Historic Places Trust members in this area. If you would
like a copy of the latest issue you can download a pdf copy here or for
a hard copy please contact us,
or Membership Services, phone
0800 802 010.
During the year, the Otago Branch organises a number of heritage-related
events in the region which
members of the public are invited to attend. Details will be posted on the website
or contact us for more information.
The RA Lawson Lecture series was inaugurated
in 1990 by the Otago Regional Committee as a tribute to Lawson's significant contribution
to the architectural heritage of Otago.
Robert Arthur Lawson was born in
Newburgh, Fife, Scotland in January 1833. After training in Perth and Edinburgh,
Lawson headed for the Australian goldfields in 1854, but resumed architectural
practice seven years later in Melbourne. Success in the design competition for
First Church, Dunedin, in 1862, took him to New Zealand, where - apart from a
further spell in Melbourne, between 1889 and 1900 - he spent the rest of his life. Some
notable buildings designed by Lawson include: First Church, Moray Place (1867-1873);
East Taieri Presbyterian Church (1870); Larnach Castle (1872-1873); Knox Church,
George Street (1874); Seacliff Hospital (1879-1883, now demolished); and The Otago
Boys' High School, Arthur Street (1885).
Lawson died at Pleasant Point,
South Canterbury, on 3 December 1902 is buried in Dunedin's Northern Cemetery
where a memorial has been erected on his tomb www.cemeteries.org.nz
Another
RA Lawson Lecture is being planned for 2007. Check the events
page
Historic Cemeteries
Conservation Trust of New Zealand
The Historic Cemeteries Conservation Trust of New Zealand was formed in January
2002. The Trust arose out of concern that as families are formed, re-formed and
disappear, as people continue to move within New Zealand and as funerary practices
& customs change, an increasing number of cemeteries are deteriorating.
Public
tours of Dunedin's cemeteries have been held, and more are planned for 2006. For
further information, contact Stewart Harvey (Chairman) Historic Cemeteries
Conservation Trust of New Zealand Tel (03) 454 5384 or visit www.cemeteries.org.nz
You can join on-line, or phone 0800
802 010. Consider a gift membership
for family/friends.
State that you are joining through the Otago Branch Committee &
help support us.
