Hector's Map of the Otago Province, 1864

This beautiful early geological map of Otago once hung in the University of Otago’s Geology Museum.  It was sent north to be conserved in the 1970s but somehow went missing for 25 years. Rediscovered and returned to the Hocken Library, the map was fully conserved and then sent to us to be digitised.


The 1.5 x 1.3 metre map was scanned on our large format heritage scanner but still required two scans to capture the map at full size.  The images were stitched together digitally, an exacting job due to the very fine detail in the map.
The digital file was colour-corrected to match the tones of the original and printed on archival quality Hahnamuhle paper on our wide format printer.


Described by University of Otago Professor of Geology Ewan Fordyce as  “The map that changed the south” the reproduction now hangs back in the Geology department at the University of Otago and the digital copy is featured on the Library’s website.