Gore’s other World-Class Surprise
The Eastern Southland Gallery is one of those rare provincial galleries that genuinely change what you think “regional” can mean. Set at the north end of the main street of Gore, it combines a beautiful heritage building with collections that have real national and international pull, anchored by the John Money Wing and the Ralph Hōtere Gallery.
The Carnegie Library Connection
The gallery is housed in Gore’s former Coronation Library building, built in 1909 with a grant from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. This was part of the wider Carnegie push that helped towns across New Zealand, and elsewhere in the world, establish purpose-built public libraries in the early 1900s.
John Money, from Baltimore to Gore
The John Money Collection is the “how is this here?” story you’ll be telling friends afterwards. Dr John Money, a Baltimore-based expatriate New Zealander, built the collection over 50 years, and it includes a large body of New Zealand, Australian, African, and American works. The gallery highlights key New Zealand names such as Rita Angus and Theo Schoon, alongside American artist Lowell Nesbitt, and major West African carvings.
What tends to stop visitors in their tracks is the African material: striking carved figures and masks, and works that feel far bigger than the room you’re standing in. The collection has even brought Gore into international conversations about African cultural heritage, including debate around objects such as Benin bronze heads held in the collection.
Ralph Hōtere and Gore
The Hōtere collection is not a coincidence of storage; it’s the result of a relationship. Ralph Hōtere was a longtime supporter and donated 36 lithographs to Gore in 2001, forming the nucleus of the collection. From there, it grew through further gifts, including additions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and private donors, resulting in one of the country’s strongest public holdings of his work.
In addition, the gallery houses regular travelling art displays.
How to Get There
The Eastern Southland Gallery is at 14 Hokonui Drive, opposite the Old Hokonui Museum and Distillery / Visitor Centre, at the northern end of Gore’s main street (also the intersection of State Highway 1 and State Highway 90), close to the town clock tower and trout statue. Gore is on State Highway 1, a 115-minute drive and 150 km from Dunedin, and a 50-minute drive and 64 km from Invercargill.
Nearby is beautiful Bannerman Park. In the Hokonui Hills, you can visit Dolamore Park and walk the Whiskey Creek Track. A little further away is Tapanui, Kelso and Leithen Glen.
