Case 2
- Dunedin and Port Chalmers
Hardwicke Knight, Otago early photographs. Broad Bay, Dunedin: Hardwicke Knight, 1987. SPRH 993.91 KNI
In this photograph of Dunedin from Dowling Street in December 1860, Hardwicke Knight writes that the city ‘appears to be asleep’. It may have been this attribute – the quiet, not-so-busy soporific pace of life – that attracted Hotere to the Edinburgh of the South. He first visited the city in 1952 as an art advisor for the Education Department. While at the Dunedin Teachers’ College and King Edward Technical College, he delved into sculpture, pottery, drama, and art. His first exhibition, along with his colleague John Kim, was at the Dunedin Public Library in 1952; some viewer remembers ‘broadly impressionistic landscapes’. In 1968, Hotere returned to Dunedin, and he was successful in securing the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship for 1969 at the University of Otago. This was the beginning of a long association with the city.
Hardwicke Knight, Otago early photographs. Broad Bay, Dunedin: Hardwicke Knight, 1987. SPRH 993.91 KNI
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![David J. and P. J. Munro, Otago fishing boats 1904-1958. [Dunedin: The Authors], c.1984. SPRH 623.8282 MUN](https://www.reedgallery.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0011/1082648/2b.webp)
David J. and P. J. Munro, Otago fishing boats 1904-1958. [Dunedin: The Authors], c.1984. SPRH 623.8282 MUN
While in Dunedin, Hotere lived at 121 Forth Street. His nearby studio at 407 Castle Street was in time rent free, courtesy of the University. In 1973, with Cilla McQueen and her daughter Andrea, Hotere moved further out, to 27 Harbour Terrace, on the hill above Careys Bay. Port Chalmers (Kōpūtai) offered him a relaxed small-town community, a pub where snooker and darts were played, and the opportunity to fish, floating about on the bay in his dinghy ‘Suzy’. There was also his Port studio at 2 Aurora Terrace, which he had purchased in 1970. It was here at Observation Point that he spent time on the serious business of his art. He was also interested in comings and goings of the Port. Perhaps lent to someone, he certainly wanted his copy of Munro’s book about vessels visiting the Port between 1904 and 1958 back.
David J. and P. J. Munro, Otago fishing boats 1904-1958. [Dunedin: The Authors], c.1984. SPRH 623.8282 MUN
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![‘Ralph Hotere Baby Irons’ postcards. [Wellington: Janne Land Gallery], 1983. Hotere Ephemera](https://www.reedgallery.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0003/1082649/2c.webp)
‘Ralph Hotere Baby Irons’ postcards. [Wellington: Janne Land Gallery], 1983. Hotere Ephemera
Hotere once said ‘in Dunedin they accept I am a painter and leave me to go about my work’ (O’Brien, 351). Indeed, he created some very significant artworks in his studios in Dunedin and Port Chalmers. Sometime after October 1983, his thoughts turned to these places, which were so important to him. He scribbled on the back of a postcard marking his ‘Baby Iron’ exhibition at the Janne Land Gallery, Wellington, the names and surrounding spots in Māori (upper case) and English. Perhaps these notes were a prompt for a future work. The misprint of ‘Irons’ was obviously annoying. Each postcard, barring one, has the ‘s’ blacked out.
