Skip to main content

Story: Presbyterian Church

Dunedin: 'Little Paisley'

Image
Dunedin: 'Little Paisley'

Dunedin was founded as a Scottish Free Church settlement in 1848. Some settlers came from Paisley (near Glasgow, Scotland), where the weaving industry was in recession. This hilly area at the southern end of Dunedin, pictured in 1849, became known as 'Little Paisley'. The fashionable dress of the family in the foreground suggests a degree of prosperity in the young settlement.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: B-051-014-a

by Edward Immyns Abbot

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Ben Schrader, Presbyterian Church – Church building and missions, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/31071/dunedin-little-paisley (accessed 3 June 2026).

Story by Ben Schrader, published 26 April 2011, updated 1 March 2017.