Port Chalmers Area Guide
The small town of Port Chalmers lies at the end of a 12-kilometre drive from Dunedin along the northern shores of the Otago Harbour, its historic buildings ranging over the low hills behind the modern container port at the water's edge.
The first settlers landed in Port Chalmers in 1848, and the town grew rapidly after gold was discovered in Otago in 1861. As the town prospered its early timber buildings were replaced with more permanent stone and brick structures, and some of these original cottages, made of locally quarried bluestone, can be seen in Currie and Harrington Streets.
The 19th century buildings lining the main George Street now house art and bric-a-brac stores and cafes, but the town still has its share of traditional pubs, including the two historic hotels, Chicks, near the foot of Mount Street, and the Port Chalmers Hotel (known as The Tunnel), next to the railway tunnel.
For a look at Port Chalmers' maritime past, visit the Museum, housed in the old post office near the container terminal. The museum's maritime collection includes memorabilia from the days of the Union Steam Ship Company, and their settlers' collection celebrates the lives of the early pioneers.
For good views over the container port and out to the harbour, drive or walk up to the lookout at the Signal Flagstaff, where there is a viewing table signposting points of interest. The original flagstaff was erected in 1864 to signal the arrival of vessels at the harbour entrance.
A path just to the side of the lookout leads to a sculpture garden, where a major work by one of New Zealand's most important artists, sculptor and painter Ralph Hotere, has been installed close to the site of his former studio. The sculpture, Black Phoenix II, was created from the stern of a burnt-out fishing boat and was re-sited here after Hotere's studio just to the north was demolished to make way for further development of the port. His first studio still sits on the garden's southern boundary.
A short drive around the harbour from Port Chalmers brings you to the pretty fishing village of Careys Bay, with its boatbuilding heritage and historic Careys Bay Hotel, which was built in 1874 from Port Chalmers bluestone. The recently restored hotel has a permanent collection of Ralph Hotere's works on its walls.