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Grahame Sydney's Central Otago
 Grahame Sydney captures the beauty and splendour of Central Otago as
only one of New Zealand's best-loved artists can. The stunning
collection of photographs contained in this book provides a new
perspective on this beautiful and varied region.
For more than thirty five years, Grahame Sydney has found his
creative inspiration in the landscapes and people of his home
province and over the last decade, since shifting to live in the
heart of his beloved Central Otago, Sydney has captured the unique
beauty, seductive austerity and magnificent extremes of this region
of New Zealand.
While the first Otago settlers may have thought of Central as 'The
Wasteland', Grahame reveals that it is a wasteland no more. It still
retains a vivid sense of untouched, natural and seemingly desolate
landscape that sets it apart from the rest of the nation but also is
home for some and means so much to many more New Zealanders.
This is a book to be treasured for years to come and beautifully
captures a unique province and its people. From sprawling landscapes
and passing cloudscapes to poignant portraits, Sydney captures both
the raw beauty of the area and the isolation of its inhabitants.
RRP $95.00
Published and distributed by Penguin Group
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Promised Land by Grahame
Sydney
 Promised Land looks at Dunedin and the Dunstan goldfields during the
Otago goldrush. Before gold was discovered in 1862, Central Otago
was known as the ‘Wasteland’ and was home to no more than 40 or 50
pastoralists. However as soon as two prospectors announced that they
had struck gold, this sparse, inhospitable region was suddenly
transformed into a secular ‘promised land’. Many people, mostly men
headed to the area in search of their fortunes . Unfortunately the
majority were poorly equipped for the terrible hardships that lay
ahead and didn’t find their fortune in the goldfields either. Their
promised land became a land of broken dreams. While the individual
miners might not have had as much success as they expected, the
coffers of Dunedin and the province of Otago swelled.
Grahame Sydney is not only one of New Zealand’s major artists and an
advocate of Central Otago, he is an author, and for this book he
delves into the diaries of some of the gold prospectors in order to
describe this pivotal period in central Otago’s history. He also
concludes that Central Otago’s landscape is as much under threat of
exploitation today.
Grahame’s book includes modern photographs as well as pictures from
the period to show how little has changed to the landscape over the
147 years since the rush. His passion for this part of the country
comes through in his writing. Unfortunitely the quality of some of
the older photos could be better as they have obviously just been
scanned and show cracks and signs of deterioration that could have
been fixed prior to print.
This book provides an interesting read for anyone interested in the
history of Central Otago, of New Zealand during the gold rush period
or learning more about this picturesque, yet harsh part of the
country.
RRP $50.00
Published and distributed by Penguin Group
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