Prof Brian Roberts, of Brisbane, said the brass candlestick holders had become heirlooms in his family after his great-grandparents, John and Selena Roberts, salvaged them from the ship Surat when it was wrecked in the Catlins on New Year's Eve 1873.
The ship was heading for Port Chalmers but struck a reef near Chaslands Mistake and eventually ran aground north of the Catlins River, at what is now Surat Bay.
Prof Roberts said all his ancestors' possessions were lost or waterlogged during their ''dramatic arrival'' in New Zealand. The only thing they found at the beach worth keeping were the candlestick holders.
''They're the only thing that remains in the family.''
They had remained in his family's care.
Formerly of Napier, Prof Roberts' father, also called Brian, died last year and left the brass items to his son. The pair decided to gift the candlestick holders to the Owaka Museum.
The candlestick holders were believed to have been made some time between 1840 and 1860, and were of Victorian origin and design.
Owaka Museum director Gael Ramsay was amazed something had turned up after all this time from so far away.
She was pleased to receive items that had a connection to events in the area.
The Surat wreck was a significant part of local history and the museum had only a few items related to it.
The candlestick holders will be put with the Surat display which includes a scale model of the ship.
