Editing Otago (section)

==History==
{{main|History of Otago}}
Like the rest of mainland New Zealand, Otago was first settled by the [[Māori people]]. Most of the Māori settlement in Otago was upon the coast and centred around the [[Otago Peninsula]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Atik |first=Meryem |last2=Swaffield |first2=Simon |title=Place names and landscape character: a case study from Otago Region, New Zealand |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01426397.2017.1283395 |journal=Landscape Research |volume=42 |issue=5 |date=4 July 2017 |issn=0142-6397 |doi=10.1080/01426397.2017.1283395 |pages=455–470}}</ref> The Otago settlement, an outgrowth of the [[Free Church of Scotland (1843-1900)|Free Church of Scotland]], was founded in March 1848 with the arrival of the first two immigrant ships from [[Greenock]] on the [[Firth of Clyde]] — the ''[[John Wickliffe (ship)|John Wickliffe]]'' and the ''Philip Laing''. Captain [[William Cargill (New Zealand politician)|William Cargill]], a veteran of the [[Peninsular War]], was the secular leader. Otago citizens subsequently elected him to the office of provincial Superintendent after the [[Provinces of New Zealand|New Zealand provinces]] were created in 1853.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=McKinnon |first1=Malcolm |title=Otago region – The Otago settlement |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/otago-region/page-5 |encyclopedia=[[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |access-date=16 April 2020 |language=en-NZ |date=1 May 2015 |archive-date=15 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240515075123/https://teara.govt.nz/en/otago-region/page-5 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Otago Province]] was the whole of New Zealand from the [[Waitaki River]] south, including Stewart Island and the sub-Antarctic islands. It included the territory of the later [[Southland Province]] and also the much more extensive lands of the modern [[Southland, New Zealand|Southland Region]].
[[File:Arrowtown (4678481119).jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Arrowtown]], a historic mining town]]
Initial settlement was concentrated on the port and city, then expanded, notably to the south-west, where the fertile [[Taieri Plains]] offered good farmland.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=McKinnon |first1=Malcolm |title=Otago region – Wool and farming |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/otago-region/page-6 |encyclopedia=[[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |access-date=16 April 2020 |language=en-NZ |date=1 May 2015 |archive-date=1 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201135246/https://teara.govt.nz/en/otago-region/page-6 |url-status=live }}</ref> The 1860s saw rapid commercial expansion after [[Gabriel Read]] discovered gold at [[Gabriel's Gully]] near [[Lawrence, New Zealand|Lawrence]], and the [[Otago gold rush]] ensued.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=McKinnon |first1=Malcolm |title=Otago region – Gold and development |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/otago-region/page-7 |encyclopedia=[[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |access-date=16 April 2020 |language=en-NZ |date=1 May 2015 |archive-date=30 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130155123/https://teara.govt.nz/en/otago-region/page-7 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Veterans of goldfields in California and Australia, plus many other fortune-seekers from Europe, North America and China, poured into the then Province of Otago, eroding its Scottish [[Presbyterian]] character. Further gold discoveries at [[Clyde, New Zealand|Clyde]] and on the Arrow River around [[Arrowtown]] led to a boom, and Otago became for a period the cultural and economic centre of New Zealand. New Zealand's first daily newspaper, the ''[[Otago Daily Times]]'', originally edited by [[Julius Vogel]], dates from this period.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=McKinnon |first1=Malcolm |title=Otago region – Art, writing and music |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/otago-region/page-14 |encyclopedia=[[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |access-date=16 April 2020 |language=en-NZ |date=1 May 2015 |archive-date=15 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240515075203/https://teara.govt.nz/en/otago-region/page-14 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Image:University of Otago.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The [[University of Otago]], New Zealand's oldest university, founded in 1869]]
New Zealand's first university, the [[University of Otago]], was founded in 1869 as the provincial university in Dunedin.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of the University of Otago |url=https://www.otago.ac.nz/about/history/index.html |website=www.otago.ac.nz |date=7 August 2019 |publisher=University of Otago |access-date=16 April 2020 |language=en-nz |archive-date=15 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240515075120/https://www.otago.ac.nz/about/history |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Province of Southland separated from Otago Province and set up its own Provincial Council at [[Invercargill]] in 1861. After difficulties ensued, Otago re-absorbed it in 1870. Its territory is included in the southern region of the old Otago Province which is named after it and is now the territory of the Southland region. The provincial governments were abolished in 1876 when the Abolition of the Provinces Act came into force on 1 November 1876,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://rulers.org/newzprov.html |title=New Zealand Provinces 1848–77 |access-date=10 December 2010 |archive-date=29 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180429031451/http://www.rulers.org/newzprov.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and were replaced by other forms of local authority, including counties. Two in Otago were named after the Scottish independence heroes [[William Wallace|Wallace]] and [[Robert I of Scotland|Bruce]]. From this time the national limelight gradually shifted northwards.

Otago's flag was chosen from a 2004 competition. It was designed by Gregor Macaulay.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/picks-underwhelming-otago-flag-designer-says |title=Picks 'underwhelming', Otago flag designer says |website=www.odt.co.nz |publisher=[[Otago Daily Times]] |first=Carla |last=Green |date=2 September 2015 |access-date= 5 February 2023}}</ref>