More than 100 people attended the opening ceremony in Owaka earlier this month.
Catlins-born Les Lockerbie was passionate about history and archaeology.
His collection of artefacts is now on display at the Wahi Kahuika Owaka Museum.
Museum manager Mike McPhee said it was a "great turnout for a specialist event in a small community".
After a welcome by Catlins Historical Society president Leadman Ibbotson and iwi representative and local kaumatua Ruth Baldwin, the Catlins Area School kapa haka group performed.
The performance honoured Mr Lockerbie’s early career as a school teacher, pioneering the teaching of Maori culture in schools in the 1930s.
Malcolm Deverson launched his book Remembering Les Lockerbie at the event which outlines Mr Lockerbie’s careers as both an educator and an archaeologist.
It contains contributions from people who knew him well.
Ex-pupil Graeme Collett spoke of his connections with Mr Lockerbie which led to a life-long friendship and interest in archaeology.
Retired geologist Dr Ross Ramsay gave a talk on Pacific navigation, place names and the scoria stone blocks found in the Catlins and on Stewart Island.
Research shows these blocks came from Meheti‘a, an island near Tahiti.
Nature writer Quinn Berentson presented the latest facts about moa revealed in his prize-winning book, Moa: The Life and Death of New Zealand’s Legendary Bird.
The Catlins was one of the last strongholds of the moa.
Mrs Baldwin then showed videos about Māori life in South Otago, including the deadly measles outbreak in 1836 which southern warriors contracted when they headed north to battle the invading northern chief Te Rauparaha.
Following afternoon tea, she said a karakia to bless the new display room and the artefacts.
Mayor Bryan Cadogan addressed the crowd before Mr Lockerbie’s daughter Frances White and Mrs Baldwin jointly cut a ribbon to open the Lockerbie Room.
The joint ribbon cutting acknowledged the large amount of work Ms White and her late husband Stephen put into cataloguing Mr Lockerbie’s vast archive of documents, as well as Mrs Baldwin’s help with the display panels and her late mother’s long connection with Mr Lockerbie.
The room is now available for all to see when visiting the museum.
