March ​2023

Southland Heritage Month

Heritage Month is an opportunity to celebrate all things heritage in Murihiku Southland and discover how the region’s historical and cultural footprints have influenced and continue to influence our lives today.

Events are programmed throughout the month of March all around Southland, ranging from feature events and lectures, exhibitions, workshops, open days, tours and a host of other quirky happenings celebrating our diverse heritage.

Prominent events such as the Southland A&P Show, Riverton Heritage Harvest Festival and vintage machinery club open days are cornerstones of the annual calendar and are complemented by themed opening events and an ever-changing menu of heritage-related happenings each year.

Workshops cover everything from built heritage to caring for heritage, oral history, and family history research. The huge breadth of heritage celebrations means there’s something for everyone, from celebrations and examinations of our artistic roots to opportunities to sample tasty traditional regional fare.

Heritage South is a community organisation working to promote opportunities for heritage, encouraging the retention of living heritage, fostering goodwill and cooperation and raising the profile of heritage.

For the latest updates, follow the Heritage South Facebook page, and keep an eye out for Heritage Month brochures around the region.

Check out the full list of Southland Heritage Month in the calendar below!

The below shows the remaining events which form the Southland Heritage Month celebration

Heritage by Region

Across the region, many fascinating museums preserve the stories, history and artefacts of our rich culture, landscapes and past. Southland and its capital city, Invercargill, hold strong ties to a bygone area which is easily witnessed in the stunning Victorian and Edwardian architecture across the city centre, notably the Civic Theatre & Anderson House. 

A celebration of our rich motoring history, Bill Richardson's Transport World in Invercargill shows how one man's passion turned into an interactive collection of over 300 vehicles. The experience in a word? Wow. 

One of New Zealand's gems, the Croydon Aviation Heritage Centre is tucked away at Mandeville in rural Southland. Here the golden age of flight can be relived, and you can even catch a flight in a Tiger Moth! Or journey back to experience how early Māori and Europeans adapted to survive on nature's edge and live together at the Te Hikoi Museum in Riverton. Elsewhere, explore museums sharing boom-and-bust gold rush tales, natural and local history, rural farming life and more.

It’s all waiting to be discovered.