University of Otago, New Zealand (Incorporated by an Ordinance of the Provincial Council of Otago, June 3, 1869)

September 1872

Hocken Bliss JSwO Uni

Dunedin: The University

The settler ships, John Wickcliffe and Philip Laing, arrived into port at Dunedin on 23 March and 15 April 1848 respectively. Four years later, Dunedin’s population was 628. In 1869, after the boom of the gold rush, the Otago population was 63,832. Education was important to the early settlers, and the idea of University seemed only natural. On 22 April 1869, at an Otago Provincial Council meeting, James Macandrew (c.1819-1887) announced that an ordinance would be submitted to Council in favour of the establishment of a university. On 3 June 1869, after two readings, the University of Otago Ordinance 1869 became law. The University became a corporate body with power to grant degrees, and importantly, in Statute 12: ‘No religious test shall be administered…’. This later September 1872 Ordinance, here, confirms both regulations, degrees, and subjects for examination.