Museums in Southland

Museums & History

Southland’s history spans from the Jurassic era to the golden age of motoring. This collection includes the world’s largest private automotive museum, Bill Richardson Transport World, and the collaborative He Waka Tuia art space in Invercargill. On Stewart Island, the Rakiura Museum details maritime and indigenous heritage, while the Wohlers Monument marks early missionary influence. The list concludes at Curio Bay, where 180-million-year-old fossilized tree stumps and logs are exposed on the shoreline during low tide.

Bill Richardson Transport World

Houses over 300 vintage vehicles, including rare trucks, classic cars, and the world’s only 1940 Dodge Airflow Texaco tanker. The collection also features a themed wearable arts gallery and vintage petrol pumps.

Wohlers Monument

A stone memorial at Ringaringa on Stewart Island dedicated to Reverend Johann Friedrich Heinrich Wohlers, who served as a missionary to the local Māori community for over 40 years starting in 1844.

Rakiura Museum

Located in Oban, this museum documents Stewart Island’s heritage. Exhibits cover early Māori settlement, sealing, whaling, tin mining, and the island's unique muttonbirding traditions.

He Waka Tuia Art + Museum

A collaborative transitional gallery space in Invercargill showcasing rotating art exhibitions and historical artifacts from the Southland Museum and Art Gallery and the Invercargill Public Art Gallery collections.

Curio Bay Fossil Forest

Remains of a 180-million-year-old Jurassic forest. Petrified tree stumps and fallen logs are embedded in the bedrock shelf and are best viewed at low tide.