Waimate Museum & Archives
Step inside Waimate’s history
Waimate’s history can be seen throughout the district – in its Edwardian buildings, farming landscape and stories of the people who shaped the place.
Waimate Museum & Archives brings those stories together. Allow plenty of time to wander through the historic buildings, explore the collections and discover some fascinating pieces of the district’s past.
Located in the town’s former courthouse. It is home to thousands of items and images telling the stories of the district - from a tiny watch to a traction engine.
The collections include fossils and moa bones, medical equipment from the old Waimate Hospital, horse-drawn farm machinery, and a room full of clocks.
The complex includes the 1879 Courthouse, the former police station, jail and stables, and a pioneer cottage that was built of pit-sawn Totara before the bushfire of 1878. There’s a 1912 country school that’s still used to educate youngsters from around South Canterbury, and an earth brick shed that stores part of the huge collection of horse-drawn farm implements.
Shearman Street, Waimate