Three descendants of Constable Thomas Blatch gathered in Balclutha on Thursday to witness the handover of an interpretative panel to Balclutha police.
The panel was made by the South Otago Museum as part of the 150th gold heritage celebrations.
It explains the life and times of pioneer policeman Constable Thomas Blatch, and was accepted for long-term public display at the Balclutha police station.
Senior Sergeant Richard Whitmore said he was "very pleased" to have the panel donated to the station for safekeeping.
One of Thomas Blatch's descendants, Rose Fallowfield, thanked the museum for creating the panel. "What you've done is magnificent - to bring back to life something that happened so long ago," she said.
The top photograph on the panel was one the family had not seen, she said.
South Otago Museum curator Gary Ross said the photograph was unearthed when the museum held an evening on the heritage of Warepa, an area south of Balclutha.
"Someone brought a leather-bound photo album and named most of the people in the photographs and Thomas Blatch was one of them," Mr Ross said.
Dunedin man Bill Price said his great-uncle had to work under tough conditions. "He once had to walk from Dunedin to Blueskin Bay to sort out a matter on one of the farms there."
Thomas Blatch arrived in Otago on John Wycliffe in 1848 at the age of 14. He joined the police force in time for the 1861 gold rush to Gabriel's Gully. After working in Dunedin, the mounted constable took up a station in South Otago.
