The launch was well attended and the museum’s Henderson Room, where the speeches were held, was standing room only.
The book, Thomas Oliver: A Man of His Time compiled by Como Villa Estate owners John and Pam Chapman and historian Wayne Stark, chronicles the life of Thomas Oliver.
Mr Oliver was the Central Otago businessman who constructed Como Villa Estate.
He arrived in New Zealand in 1863, after travelling nearly 10,000 nautical miles from England.
Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery operations manager Paula Stephenson said in a speech that Mr Oliver became a successful hotelier and water race tycoon while in Central Otago.
He also acquired mining rights throughout the region.
Ms Stephenson said the book that they celebrated represents not just historical research but a labour of love that ensured Mr Oliver’s contribution to the region would never be forgotten.
Pam Chapman said she was excited to finally release the book.
"It was a long time in the making," she said.
In a speech Mrs Chapman said she and her husband John moved to Central Otago looking to expand their deer farm.
The property had an orchard on it and after a steep learning curve they prepared the Como Villa House to be a packing shed.
It was one winter day when Mrs Chapman was nosing around and discovered a copy of the Otago Witness newspaper under a peeled piece of wallpaper that was dated November 1889.
This sparked her interest in this history of the property.
She went to the museum to learn about the property, but nobody she asked knew anything about it.
She then wrote to Prof John McCraw to see if he knew anything about the Como Villa property, he said he did not.
Prof McCraw visited Como Villa and became intrigued with the old building, and said he would do some research.
Mrs Chapman said the professor found some information and a chapter on Como Villa would be included in his book Gold on the Dunstan.
The Chapmans were then approached by Wayne Stark, who came to their door one day and asked "how come your family have got a vineyard" Mrs Chapman said.
Historian Mr Stark, who helped the Chapmans to compile the book said the 20 years of research for the book and the seven years of writing were definitely worth celebrating.
"Tonight we can all celebrate it hasn’t been written.
"It’s been crafted by Pam and John to finally satisfy their passion of being in awe of the early pioneers, culminating in the commitment that they have displayed to recreate that early past on their commodity property," he said.
John Chapman closed out the speeches by thanking all those who helped in compiling the book.
Thomas Oliver was an inspiration as his was an interesting person, sort of like Tim Wallace of that decade.
"He got under our skin to a point where we just devoted all that time to get the story in writing," Mr Chapman said.
