Thomas Hocken

Hocken was married twice, to Julia Annia Daykne Simpson in 1867, and Bessie Buckland in July 1883 at Invercargill's St John's Church.

[2][3] Hocken's keen mind and instinct for collecting and preserving the past came to the fore when gold was discovered near Dunedin in 1861.

His house, "Atahapara", was located on Moray Place, close to First Church, and here he built up a huge collection of manuscripts and artefacts relating to Otago's history.

Fearing the changes that the goldrush, with its rapid influx of population, would bring to the southern South Island, he began to collect books, records, and ephemera from the early years of European settlement.

He became an expert in this field, presenting papers, writing essays, and assisting with the preparation of exhibits on such diverse topics as Pacific island costumes, early colonial settlement, and extinct New Zealand birds.