This large store built for merchants Dalgety, Rattray and Co. and designed by prominent Dunedin architect David Ross in 1864, is one of the oldest surviving commercial buildings in Oamaru.

Tyne Street was one of the first commercial areas to be developed in Oamaru. It was home to many stores because of its proximity to the port. Dalgety & Co. established a branch in Oamaru in 1864 on this site, but do not appear to have owned the land. Dalgety & Co. was established by Frederick Gonnerman Dalgety. Canadian-born Dalgety emigrated to Australia, later becoming a partner in a merchant firm. Dalgety extended his business to New Zealand in 1858, setting up Dalgety Buckley and Co. in Lyttleton. In 1863 Dalgety and Co. set up a Dunedin branch where James Rattray with William Tolmie, on behalf of F.G. Dalgety, established Dalgety, Rattray & Co., merchants and agents. The first premises were two large wooden stores and a manager’s cottage.

Prominent Dunedin architect David Ross designed the company’s new stores. Ross advertised for tenders for the ‘Erection of Large Stone and Iron Stores at Oamaru’ in July 1864. In October 1864 the Oamaru Mail and Waitaki Reporter described the opening of the ‘fine business premises.’ ‘The store is 100 feet in length by 50 broad [30 by 15m], the first section, in which the counting-house is situated, being of stone, while the remainder of the walls as well as the roof are of galvanised iron. The interior throughout is lined with Baltic pine. In such a large space there is ample room for compartments for different descriptions of goods and for their thorough arrangement. The ground on which the building stands fronts Tyne Street and also Tees Street, and it is intended to surround the whole with a substantial fence of galvanised iron 8 feet high [2.4m]. These premises, while certainly the largest here, are as handsome, commodious, and business like, as any we have seen.’ The store cost around £1,500 to build.

Dalgety, Rattray and Co. went into liquidation in early 1865, and closed their Oamaru business in 1868, selling it to George Harper, who went into partnership with William Black. Harper and Black went bankrupt in 1870. In 1870 auctioneers Fleming and Hedley took over the business, which included Robert Campbell’s station agency that remained with the store. Neil Fleming (1840-1900) and Allan Hedley went into partnership in 1868. Born in Scotland and a teacher by profession, Fleming came to Dunedin in 1864 before moving to Oamaru in 1866. Allan Hedley (d.1918) came to New Zealand in 1864. He managed Awamoa Estate for runholder Mathew Holmes before entering into partnership with Neil Fleming. Hedley was mayor of Oamaru from 1901-1903. After Neil Fleming’s death in 1900 Hedley sold the building to the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company Ltd.

In 1929 the building was converted into the Scottish Hall, home for the North Otago Scottish Society Incorporated. The hall was opened on 21 November 1929. In 1940 the building was enlarged. In the 1950s the façade was plastered over. It was chipped back to the original limestone in 1997.

In 2013 Dalgety, Rattary and Co’s. Store (Former) remains home to the North Otago Scottish Society. Its history provides an important link with the first mercantile traders in Oamaru, and is a significant element in Oamaru’s Harbour/Tyne Historic Area (Register No. 7064).