Port Chalmers

The original Māori name for Port Chalmers was Potakere or Pou-takere, which may have indicated the hill where the tuahu, or altar, was sited.[4] Koputai is a later name meaning ‘full tide’ and refers to an incident in which a group of warriors decided to spend the night in a cave that once existed at what was later known as Boiler Point and pulled their canoes well above the high tide mark. Overnight the tide rose and beached canoes were set adrift. As some of them swam out to reclaim the canoes those onshore cried out “Koputai!, Koputai!”[5] When a peace was made between Kāti Māmoe and Kāi Tahu, about 1780, Koputai was one of two southern terminuses of Kāi Tahu territory. The chiefs Karetai, Te Matenga Taiaroa and Tuhawaiki and other Māori frequented Koputai.

By February 1839, the Weller brothers of Otago (modern Otakou) had set up a saw pit on the opposite side of the harbour, which appears to have been at Sawyers Bay. By September the following year a 'big boat', supposedly the schooner Anne, was under construction, apparently there. In 1840, Port Chalmers and the whole western shore of Otago Harbour (from about Burkes to Otafelo Point) was included in Te Matenga Taiaroa's sale of land to the French whalers Pierre Darmandarits and Edouard DuBern, brothers-in-law and business partners.

The first Christian service at Koputai was held by the Reverend James Watkin, the Wesleyan missionary at Waikouaiti, in 1842. Taiaroa's cousin, the chief Kohi, was the leader of the last known hapū at Koputai. That year Kohi fell ill, and thinking himself at the point of death, feared that his young son Timoko, would never have any benefit from a sealing boat in which he had a share. He therefore instructed his servants, Kurukuru and Rau-o-te-uri, to burn the boat where it lay on the beach at Koputai. To appease the other partners in the boat who were outraged upon hearing what he had done Kohi after consulting his wife Piro, consented at Otaheiti to be strangled as punishment. Taiaroa was given the task but upon observing his hand trembling as he was tying the knot Kohi exclaimed: "Kahore kia mataa a Taiaroa ki te mea o te taura" (Taiaroa does not know how to tie a knot). Kopi then took the rope, tied a slip-knot, and adjusted the rope about his own neck before Taiaroa pulled upon the rope tight, until he was dead.[6][7] Kohi was buried at Koputai. By 1844 Koputai was deserted.

In 1844 the schooner Deborah under the command of Captain Thomas Wing was chartered by Frederick Tuckett of the New Zealand Company to assist him in choosing a site for the projected New Edinburgh settlement. After sailing for the South on 31 March 1844 Tuckett left the ship at Moeraki on 23 April and made his way south by land in order to gaining a better appreciation of the land. The Deborah continued south independently and anchored near Koputai in the bay now bearing its name, and where the hulk of the vessel remains. It wasn't until 26 April that Tuckett rendezvoused with the ship. Tuckett explored the harbour and its environs, which he how considered more suitable for the purposed settlement than any site he had yet seen. He departed at the end of April to explore the inland countryside, before returning to Koputai on 11 June. By this date there was established at Koputai a makeshift jetty, two whares (Māori-style houses) and some tents.[5] Mr. and Mrs. Lethbridge were in residence, David Scott and several others. As a result of his investigations Tuckett selected an adjoining block of land (the Otago Block) as the site for the Scottish New Edinburgh settlement and nominated Koputai as its deep-water port. The Deborah departed on 23 June leaving behind Tuckett, who was living in a small three-bedroom cottage made of loose bricks that he had built on the beach. On 15 July 1844 William Wakefield of the New Zealand Company visited accompanied by John Jermyn Symonds (representing the government) and George Clark.

The sale of the Otago Block from Māori to the Otago Association was concluded at Koputai on 31 July 1844. In December 1844 Tuckett left and returned to England, with William Davidson taking over his cottage and position as the New Zealand Company's local representative.[5] In that same month Alexander and Janet McKay arrived with plans to establish a public house, to service the needs of the proposed settlement. It eventually opened as the 'Surveyors' Arms' on what is now Beach Street and was licensed by Akaroa-based magistrate John Watson in 1846. On 23 February 1846 the ship Mary Catherine anchored at Koputai. On board was Charles Kettle the surveyor to the New Zealand Company together with his wife and a staff of six assistant surveyors and 25 labourers, whose task was to survey the land that had been purchased from the Māori. kettle and his wife took up residence in Tuckett's cottage. The survey of the town was completed in May 1846.[5]

At first the European settlers intended to christen the settlement ‘New Leith’ or ‘New Musselburgh’, as they disliked the Māori name of Koputai; but the Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland (later known as the Otago Association), desired that the port might be named after Dr. Thomas Chalmers, the leader of the Free Church movement in Scotland and this suggestion was adopted.[8][5]

The first organized European settlers arrived in Otago Harbour on the John Wickliffe, which moored off what was now Port Chalmers on 23 March 1848. Captain Cargill who was the agent for the New Zealand Company and a small party went in the ship's boat to the head of the harbor, while the other passengers went ashore in parties to explore the land around Port Chalmers. The second ship, the Philip Laing arrived on 15 April 1848 to find a settlement surrounded by dense bush to the water's edge except for a small clearing behind the centre of the beach and consisting of the New Zealand Company's store, Tuckett's former cottage and three whare (Māori huts).[5] At the time Port Chalmers had 400 potential sections available compared with Dunedin's 2,000.[5] The arrival of organized European settlement eventually led to the town superseding the earlier Otakou as the harbour's international port. By 1849 the population had reached 38[5] and by January 1854 the population had reached 80, but was still less than 130 by 1861. In 1854 the 220 ton Nelson was the first steamer to visit the port. As Otago harbour was too shallow for large ships to reach Dunedin. Ships initially used to anchor in the stream, and the cargo was transshipped to lighters, which were towed by tugs to Dunedin at the head of the harbor. There was also a connection by steep road from North East Valley to Sawyers Bay, a spur of the main road north.

Euterpe (later Star of India) at Port Chalmers.

On 31 May 1855 the customhouse was robbed, and a chest, containing about £1,400, was carried away, but was afterwards recovered from the harbour, where the thieves had thrown it on some rocks upon finding that they were unable to open it before daylight exposed them to potential capture.[9]

By the 1860s a road along the side of the harbour between Dunedin and Port Chalmers had been built, which allowed ships to dock at Port Chalmers, with goods then transported to and from Dunedin by road. The Bowen pier was built in 1873, followed by the Export pier, and, later, the George Street pier. In 1862 Dunedin and Port Chalmers were connected by a telegraph line.[5] A small community of workers sprang to service the docks. In spite of all this, the port was probably viewed as a temporary solution and an inconvenience, as a round trip to Dunedin took three to four hours by horse and wagon. There was also the option of a sea connection by two paddle steamers, the Golden Age (from 1863 onwards) and the Peninsula.

The discovery of gold by Gabriel Read in 1861 lead to the Otago Gold Rush which over a three month period saw 16,000 new arrivals pass through the port. This totally transformed Port Chalmers as businesses sprung up to service both the increasing number of ships and their passengers.[5] Despite the development the streets were still unpaved and muddy following any heavy rain. This dramatic increase in trade meant that by 1864, Port Chalmers had grown to be the third largest port in Australasia.[10] with a population of at least a 1,000, with five hotels, three restaurants, six general stores, two chemists, two bakeries, two barbers, two blacksmiths, two churches, two schools, and a Masonic Hall (which functioned during the week as a courthouse).[5]

On 18 June 1865 a large fire consumed an entire block of building at the corner of George and Grey Streets, destroying a number of buildings. The fire was put out by local citizens and the Naval Brigade. Despite the damage caused it wasn't until 1876 that a volunteer fire brigade was organized.[5]

In the early 1870s construction began on the Port Chalmers Branch railway line linking Dunedin and Port Chalmers. Originally the contractors intended for the tracks to pass down George Street to the port, but following objections from the Town Board it was conveyed via a cutting and a tunnel to emerge on Beach Street before terminating on a new wharf.[5] Soil excavated from the tunnel was used for the reclamation of land for the new wharf on which the railway line terminated. When the railway line opened on 1 January 1873 it was the first 1,067 mm narrow gauge railway in New Zealand. The opening of this line bought to an end the lightering service between Port Chalmers and Dunedin. The branch line was subsequently incorporated into the national rail network through a connection at Sawyers Bay to the Main South Line, which was opened through to Christchurch on 7 September 1878 and Invercargill on 22 January 1879. As the Main South Line passed along the hillside above Port Chalmers a railway station locally called the “Upper Station” was built to service passengers. The terminus of the branch line on the wharf continued to service freight and was known as the “Lower Station”. Since roads on Otago Peninsula were non-existent, boats were used to cross the harbour. The first dedicated ferry service was introduced on the harbor in 1859 but it was not profitable. As the region's rapidly increased due to the Gold Rush scheduled ferry services began between Port Chalmers and Portobello and ran from 1876 to 1954. The development of the town reflected the growth of Dunedin and Otago with rivalry between the city and Port Chalmers over which would handle the bulk of shipping. The establishment of a floating dock and later a graving dock in the 1870s lead to Port Chalmers emerging as a significant ship repair center.

As Dunedin grew, and particularly with the increase in commerce that developed following the Otago Gold Rush of the 1860s, the merchants of Dunedin pushed for dredging of a channel to allow ocean-going vessels to reach the city's wharves.[11] Though a contentious decision, it was agreed to dredge what became known as the Victoria Ship Channel along the north-western side of the harbor. The channel was finally opened in 1881. The initial channel was narrow and shallow, and did not get off to an auspicious start, as the Union Steam Ship Company's SS Penguin, the first ship to use it, was temporarily grounded while using it. As finance allowed, the channel was gradually widened and deepened, and by 1907, twice as many ships were using Dunedin's wharves as used Port Chalmers. Compensating to some degree for the opening of the Victoria Ship Channel ship servicing and building industries developed in Port Chalmers while the adjacent Carey's Bay became a fishing port. The year 1882 saw the inauguration of New Zealand's refrigerated meat trade when the ship Dunedin left Port Chalmers with the first such cargo.

Dunedin, the first commercially successful refrigerated ship.

David Alexander De Maus (1847–1925) operated a photography business in Port Chalmers and was known for his maritime photographs. In 1893 he was the first person in New Zealand to be prosecuted for selling an indecent photo (of a woman).[12] It was possibly a reprint of a French academic study for artists that was legal in France.[13] This conviction didn't stop him from being elected mayor of Port Chambers four times between 1899 and 1913.

In November 1894 the port was host to the Antarctic, a Norwegian whaling and sealing ship soon to be credited with the first substantiated landing on the Antarctic continent. While docked in Port Chalmers for repairs and restocking, several of her crew refused to continue with the voyage, and four New Zealanders were recruited several days later at Stewart Island. During the heroic era of Antarctic exploration the Otago Harbour Board sought to attract subsequent explorers, extending generous hospitality by way of coal, food, and complimentary use of the harbour facilities. This dangled carrot drew Robert Falcon Scott, who visited with both the Discovery in December 1901 and his final doomed Terra Nova expedition to Antarctica in November 1910. It attracted Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod and Endurance expeditions. In 1916 Shackleton's damaged ship the Aurora was towed to Port Chalmers, repaired in Port and then returned to Antarctica. American Richard E. Byrd used Port Chalmers as the base for his Antarctic operations in 1928, Lincoln Ellsworth did likewise in 1933, and so did a number of other American, French and New Zealand explorers over the coming decades. In 1903 the temperance movement was successful in prohibiting the selling of alcohol in the Port Chalmers electorate. Hotels in the town banded together, taking their case as far as the Privy Council, in London, before winning back their licences in May 1905.[14]

By 1905 the town had a population of over 2,000 and was home to two railway stations two banks, a dairy factory, gas works, two cemeteries, a recreation reserve, two fire stations, a brass band, salt water bath, and a Mechanics' Institute. Education was provided by a District High School, a Roman Catholic school, a Technical School, and several private kindergartens. The town was protected by a company of the Permanent Artillery, and the Garrison Artillery Volunteers. In 1906 when it was found that only 28 boys and one girl could swim out of a roll of 432 pupils at the local school could swim, swimming lessons were added to the curriculum and held in the partially-filled graving dock. A road tunnel linking Sawyers Bay with Waitati as part of a new north motorway from Dunedin was proposed in the 1930s but never built. By 1961 the town had a population of 3,120.

View across Carey's Bay at Port Chalmers in 1926

Loading at the new logging wharf, Port Chalmers (1972)

New reclamations at Port Chalmers (1972)

A new faster, harbourside road from the city was completed in 1965. The selection of Port Chalmers as the South Island's first container terminal in 1971 re-established Port Chalmers as the South Island's major commercial port to – much the dismay of the locals, who had enjoyed several generations of bohemian tranquility by this point. In 1979, passenger trains between Port Chalmers and Dunedin ceased after 106 years of operation. All the buildings at the Upper Station were subsequently removed. The container traffic continued to expand and while a new expanding trade in timber developed in parallel but the greatly reduced labour needs of these trades saw the town's population contract. Controversial attempts to site an aluminum smelter at Aramoana at the mouth of the harbour in 1975 and 1980 didn't succeed. From the 1970s an artists' colony grew up in Port Chalmers and Carey's Bay contributing to tensions over the port's continuing industrial development and giving a different flavour to the town. In 1987 the Port Chalmers Old Identities Society's collection was transferred to the old Post Office building and reopened as the Port Chalmers Museum. This has since been renamed the Regional Maritime Museum.

Although the Victoria Channel has been gradually widened, and kept dredged to a depth of 8 m (26 ft), modern cruise ships and container vessels are so big that they often draw in excess of the depth restriction while the narrowness of the channel means must be piloted along it by tugs. As a result being closer to the open sea as well as its easier berthing makes Port Chalmers the preferred port of call. In the 2018–2019 financial year 208,600 containers were handled by the port while 1.15 million tonnes of logs were exported between the Dunedin and Port Chalmers wharves.[15] The 55 m (180 ft) high Flagstaff Hill has a long history of slipping, and had suffered significant slumping during a storm in 1999.[16] In June 2019 a $2.9 million project was begun by Port Otago to stabilize the east and north-east sides of Flagstaff Hill and return Beach Street to its original position. A series of terraces is being created and approximately 45,000m³ of excess rock and sediment is to be removed.[15]

The climate of Port Chalmers in general is temperate; Under the Köppen climate classification, it is classified as oceanic climate. The average temperature is 10.8 °C (51.4 °F). and has relatively low rainfall in comparison to many of New Zealand's other towns, with only some 716 millimetres (28.2 in) recorded per year.[17]

The creative arts are still important to the area's economy; Port Chalmers and the surrounding suburbs of Careys Bay, Deborah Bay, Roseneath and Sawyers Bay have a thriving arts community of painters, potters, musicians, jewelers, sculptors and writers.[19]

From the 1990s onwards cruise ships began calling at Otago Harbour, a trend that continues to expand with 153,000 disembarking of the 229,000 passengers bought on 115 vessels (104 into Port Chalmers) during the 2018–2019 season.[15][20]

The Customs Department was initially responsible for control of Otago Harbour with the Collector of Customs acting as harbor master, until 1859 when the Provincial Council took responsibility and appointed a dedicated harbor master.[5] To service the hulls of the increasing number of ships calling at the port a 170 ft (51.8 m) long by 42 ft (12.8 m) wide by 16 ft (4.9 m) deep wooden floating dock called the Alpha was built and launched in 1868 at Port Chalmers W. Murray and Co., under a 5-year guarantee from the Provincial Government.[21] The Otago Harbour Board was established on 30 June 1874 and took over responsibility for the harbour and the provision of facilities, the wharves at Port Chalmers were managed by the Railways Department until 1928.[22][11] Construction of a 328 ft (100.0 m) long graving dock was commenced by the Otago Dock Trust in July 1868.[23] The commissioning of the graving dock in March 1872 (which had cost £56,069 2s 11d) and the increasing size of ships resulted in reduced demand for the floating dock which was finally beached at Carey's Bay. The remains of the dock are still visible as late as the 1940s.[24][25]

Owing to the need to accommodate increasingly larger vessels a new graving dock was constructed by the Otago Dock Trust between 1905 and 1909 at a cost of £74,475.[26] It was 572 ft (174.3 m) long which allowed it to take vessels up to 530 ft (161.5 m) in length.[27] Once the dock was completed the Otago Dock Trust merged with the Otago Harbour Board on 21 May 1910.[28] In April 1928 the 527.2 ft (160.7 m) long Norwegian whaling ship, C.A. Larsen became the largest vessel serviced by the graving dock up until that time. Following its taking over operation of the wharves from the Railway Department the Otago Harbour Board moved its headquarters to Port Chalmers in 1929.[11] The first all-container ship to visit New Zealand was the Columbus New Zealand, which berthed at Beach Street Wharf on 26 June 1971, before the container terminal had been built. It used its own on-board crane whose arm folded out to land or pick up containers from the wharf. The redevelopment lead to the closing in 1975 and filling in of the graving dock while the wharves were replaced by two berths – the later multi-purpose berth is to the right – and a heavy-duty paved space for storing, washing and devanning (unpacking) containers. In 1988 the Otago Harbour Board was replaced by a quasi-autonomous local government entity, Port Otago Ltd.

Port Chalmers from the northeast, cruise ship Dawn Princess and a container ship in port

The port currently has three berths suitable for handling containerized, multi-purpose, and conventional vessels; Beach St, the container berth and the multi-purpose three berths. The swinging basin is dredged to 13.5 m (44 ft), with a turning diameter of 487 m (1,598 ft). A $23 million 135 m (443 ft) long extension to the existing multi-purpose berth which increased its total length to 431 m (1,414 ft) was completed in 2019.[15]

A quarry known as the “Big Quarry” was opened on Church Street in March 1866 and operated until it closed in the 1920. This supplied Port Chalmers brecia locally known as bluestone which was used in the foundations of the Dunedin Railway Station, the Otago Boys’ High School, the University of Otago Clocktower, Dunedin Town Hall and in the Port Chalmers Graving Dock and to construct many other buildings in the area. The site is now home to the Lady Thorn Rhododendron Dell.

Beginning with the construction of the 13-ton schooner Sarah which was launched in 1859 shipbuilding became an important activity at Port Chalmers. Notable following vessels were the 70-ton steamer Taiaroa (1865), the 50-ton schooner Maid of Otago (1870), the 70-ton schooner Friendship (1871) and the 70-ton schooner Mary Ogilvie (1873). In 1861 William Isbister constructed at Carey's Bay the first patent slip of its kind in New Zealand. He soon built a second slip and on them carried out ship repairs and built a number of small vessels, among them the paddle steamer Tuapeka (1863), 28-ton schooner Cymraes (1864) and the dredge New Era (1867).[5] Other shipbuilders based at Port Chalmers were Sutherland & McKay, Knewstubb Brothers (from the late 1880s until 1905), Miller Bros, Miller & Tunnage and Morgan & Cable.[5] Morgan & Cable later changed its name first to the Maori Iron Works and later in 1906 to Stevenson & Cook which during the Second World War built seven Castle class minesweepers at Boiler Point for service with Royal New Zealand Navy. Boiler Point took its name from an abandoned ship's boiler. After the war the company built the penstocks for the Roxburgh Power Station, before eventually closing in 1958, due to a diminishing workload.[29] The company's facilities were taken over by Sims Engineering Ltd who built tugs and in 1984 launched the 1,056-ton dredge New Era, as of 2006 the largest powered vessel built in New Zealand.[30] Sims closed in about 1990.

The construction of the floating dock and then the graving dock allowed the port to establish itself as a centre of ship repair. The Union Steam Ship Company was established in Dunedin in 1875 and in the same year established a workshop at Port Chalmers to repair both its own and other companies’ ships. The company purchased the hulk of the barque ‘’Don Juan’’ in 1878 and moored it between the Bowen and George Street piers where it was used as a carpenters’ workshop and sailmakers loft.[5] As demand for the workshop's services increased in 1889 the company moved its workshops and sailmakers loft to an existing three-storey building before in 1897 the company constructed a new much bigger building on reclaimed land with further expansion in the following year. Up until 1920 Port Chalmers was the company's main repair facility until in that year the company moved its headquarters to Wellington followed by the establishment of its main repair centre in that city.[5] The facilities at Port Chalmers declined in importance until they finally closed in 1975. Between 1920 and 1930 a large number of the Norwegian whaling vessels based at Stewart Island were refurbished by the workshops of the Union Stream Ship Company. The Second World War was a particularly busy period due to repairs being required on vessels damaged by the enemy.

Between 1878 and 1982, Port Chalmers had at least 23 mayors. The following is an almost complete list:[31]

	Name	Portrait	Term of office
1	Daniel Rolf		1866–1868
2	Thomas Taylor		1868–1869
3	Hugh McDermid		1870–1871
4	Henry Dench		1871–1873
(3)	Hugh McDermid		1873–1874
5	Andrew McKinnon		1874–1878
6	William Martin Innes		1878–1879
7	William Murray		1879–1880
(6)	William Martin Innes		1880–1883
8	Thomas Hirst Dodson		1883–1884
9	Edmund Allen		1884–1893
10	John Watson, Jr		1893–1895
(9)	Edmund Allen		1895–1896
(6)	William Martin Innes		1896–1897
11	John Mill		1897–1899
12	David De Maus		1899–1901
(11)	John Mill		1901–1902
13	John Thomson		1902–1903
(12)	David De Maus		1903–1906
14	Isaac Stevenson		1906–1908
(11)	John Mill		1908–1909
(12)	David De Maus		1909–1910
15	Frederick Platts		1910–1912
(12)	David De Maus		1912–1913
16	David Miller Mawson		1913–1914
17	Thomas Scollay		1915–1917
18	John Tait		1917–1919
19	John McDonald Stevenson		1919–1922
(10)	John Watson, Jr		1922–1925
20	Thomas Anderson		1925–1929
21	William George Love		1929–1931
(10)	John Watson, Jr		1931–1935
(17)	Thomas Scollay		1935–1941
22	Herbert Watson		1941–1947
(20)	Thomas Anderson		1947–
	John Thorn		1956–1989

The biannual Seafood Festival takes place in September.

• Iona Church
• Holy Trinity Church
• St Mary, Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church. Designed by Frank William Petrie this church held its first mass on 12 May 1878. Owing to a shortage of funds the planned spire was not built. Later the original stone facade was plastered over.

• Municipal Building (Town Hall). The foundation stone was laid on 3 November 1888, and the building opened on 25 September 1889. It was originally built to house the Port Chalmers Town Hall, as well as the Town Clerk's office, the Fire Brigade, the Police Station (including the Sergeant's residence and cells), Court Rooms, Customs Office and Government Shipping Office. There was also a morgue that occupied a backroom downstairs. By the 1950s most of the government departments had ceased to use their offices, and when the courthouse closed in 1952, the library moved in to the old courtroom (which is today the foyer). When the fire brigade moved to a new site, its part of the building was used by various community groups. A major redevelopment of the whole building was completed in 2004, with the library and service centre moving into the area previously occupied by the fire brigade.

• Time ball. This was established in 1867 on the flagpole on top of Observation Point to assist in maritime timekeeping. Removed in 1970, a replacement was installed in 2020.

• Tunnel Hotel. This establishment located at 22 Beach St claims to be the oldest hotel south of Nelson, and the oldest continually operated business in New Zealand. It stands on the site of the 'Surveyors' Arms' which was opened by Alexander and Janet McKay sometime after their arrival in December 1844 and was licensed to sell alcohol by the Akaroa-based magistrate John Watson in 1846. It later changed its name to the Port Chalmers Hotel and finally to the Tunnel Hotel. The current building dates from 1875.[33]

• Port Chalmers Maritime Museum is a small museum, being owned and operated by Port Otago between 2020 and 2055. [34] It was previously owned and operated by the Port Chalmers Historical Society Inc, formerly the Port Chalmers Early Settlers and Old Identities Association, founded in September 1913. Their collection was transferred to former Post Office building (built in 1877) which reopened as the Port Chalmers Museum in 1987, and has since been renamed the Regional Maritime Museum.[35][36]

• Scott Expedition Memorial. Upon news of the death of Captain Scott and members of his party reaching New Zealand, the Port Chalmers Borough Council in March 1913 decided to erect a memorial cairn on Height Rock, overlooking the harbour. Paid for largely by public subscriptions the foundation stone was laid on 13 December 1913 and it was formally unveiled by Prime Minister W.F. Massey on 30 May 1914. The structure, designed by architect Robert Burnside, consists of a tall and gently tapering column of Port Chalmers bluestone, surmounted by an anchor. On the landward side is inset a marble tablet inscribed with (inter alia) the names of those who perished: Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Edward Adrian Wilson, Captain Lawrence E.G. Oates, Lieutenant Henry R. Bowers and Petty Officer Edgar Evans.

• Lady Thorn Rhododendron Dell. Following the closing of the “Big Quarry” on Church Street in 1920, it was then used in the 1950s as a tip where dunnage timber from visiting cargo ships was burnt. When this practice stopped in the 1960s it was used as rubbish dump and then became overgrown. Lady Constance Thorn ( -1997), a former long- time mayoress of the town, came up with the idea of turning the area into a dell of rhododendrons. The Port Chalmers and District Lions Club helped in 1998 to develop the garden, which they now maintain. A lookout accessed by stairs features a selection of old historic photographs of Port Chalmers over the years and also offers a view of the town and Otago Harbour.

• Hotere Garden Oputae. The former studio of noted artist Ralph Hotere (1931–2013) was on land at the tip of Observation Point, the large bluff overlooking the container terminal. When the port's facilities were expanded in 1993, part of the bluff was removed, including the area containing Hotere's studio (after strenuous objection from many of the town's residents). Part of the bluff close to the removed portion are converted by the Hotere Foundation Trust with the assistance of the Otago Harbour Board into a sculpture garden in 2005 containing featuring works by both Hotere and by other noted New Zealand modern sculptors. The sculptures were previously displayed at Hotere's studio and include: “Black Phoenix II” by Ralph Hotere, “Brick Column” by Russell Moses, “They do cut down the poles that hold up the sky” by Shona Rapira Davies and “Aramoana” by Chris Booth. In 2008 the garden by Design and Garden Landscapes Ltd won the Landscape Industries Association of NZ premier award for the best use of native plants, a gold award for landscape horticulture and a silver award for landscape design.

State Highway 88 connects Port Chalmers to Dunedin. A public bus connection is provided to Dunedin by buses organized by the Otago Regional Council.

In 1871 Thomson Brothers were given permission to construct a gasworks and a gas reticulation system. The gasworks was erected on Mount Street and by June 1872 the town was being lit by ten gas powered lamps with a gas supply to a number of houses soon following. In April 1888 the Port Chalmers Gas Company was formed and took over the gas system. They moved the gasworks to Mussel Bay and expanded the reticulation system. The Borough Council took over the system in 1918. From 1906 the wharves were lit by electricity but it wasn't until 1914 that electricity began to be supplied to the rest of the town.[5]

Following the proclamation of Port Chalmers and outlying districts as an Education District a public school opened on 20 October 1856 in a building shared with the Magistrates Court on the corner of Grey and Scotia Streets with pupils have to pay a fee.[5] By 1859 the school had 36 pupils. In 1860 a dedicated school house was erected, by which time the roll had increased to 166. With the school continuing to expand both its number of school rooms and pupils it was designated as the Port Chalmers Grammar School in 1869. In 1872 the school had a staff of four teaching 238 pupils. In 1875 staff and 401 pupils moved to a new school building constructed on what had been previously the Police Camp Reserve. In 1879 the grammar school became the Port Chalmers District High School.[5] In 1929 it reverted to being a primary school. Port Chalmers School had a roll of 94 students as of April 2023.[37]

In 1882 St Mary's School was established and initially operated from a shed-like house.[38] In 1898 Mother Mary MacKillop, and two Josephite Sisters, arrived into Dunedin on the request of the parish priest of Port Chalmers to assist with teaching. When they arrived they found the existing school house to be in a sad state of disrepair. As a result of Mackillop, her follow sisters and the community's endeavours a new school, St Joseph's Primary School, was opened at the end of January 1898. MacKillop lived in Port Chalmers for two months and was the first Head of St Joseph's in Port Chalmers, teaching the Upper Standards. The second St Joseph's School building was opened in 1913 and was a two-story brick building that became a feature of the Port Chalmers landscape. The Sisters of St Joseph continued to run the school until 1979 before handing the role over to lay teachers. In 1987 the third St Joseph's School was built and became a state-integrated, co-educational Catholic primary school.[39] St Joseph's School closed at the beginning of 2023.[40]