Waipu Scottish Migration Museum — Local services in Northland

Experience living history at Waipu Museum Waipu Museum tells a settlement story unique in New Zealand’s history.

Migration Story Come and learn how 1000 Scottish Highlanders arrived in Waipu in the 1850’s

Their Great Migration

The industrial revolution of the 18th century saw massive economic shifts throughout Europe which changed the nature of both land ownership and employment in many lands. This was especially the case in the Scottish Highlands where the crushing of the Jacobite rebellion at the Battle of Culloden had already destroyed much of the old Highland way of life.

Here things changed dramatically. The industrial production of wool and the discovery of a breed of sheep hardy enough to survive the bleak Highland conditions opened up the promise of huge profits for the Lairds and clan leaders. Their only hitch was that they had to remove their existing Highland populations to make way for the sheep. These changes ultimately caused a massive evacuation of the highland population.

Come to Waipu Museum and find out what happened to the Highlanders in the last years of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century and how this state of affairs brought 1000 of...

Spent a couple of hours looking around the museum, it's bigger than it looks and full of the personal stories of many of the settlers. What's amazing is that they have so many portraits of them all. A lasting record of determination and endurance. Only thing that would have made it an incy bit better would be to read their accounts of Waipu life... I imagine they were enormously happy to have found their own paradise and just a couple of stories in that vein would have been good. All in all thoroughly enjoyable and a lovely friendly receptionist who was very...

We came across the museum by chance because of an enforced detour on SH1 and happened to see the sign by the roadside. What a delight! We're residents of Edinburgh and are well aware of the disastrous effects of the Highland clearances, but the museum joined the dots of what happened to the emigrants who fled first to Canada then to Australia and New Zealand, ending-up in Waipu. There are so many parallels between the Scots (particularly those from the Highlands) and the Maori. A fascinating, wonderful little museum, well worth the...