Johnstone played 26 games for the All Blacks between 1949 and 1951 and captained the All Blacks on the tour to Australia in 1951.
The other Taieri All Blacks were James Allan (1884), Arran Pene (1993-94) and John Timu (1993-94).
Johnstone, a rugged No 8, was a key member of the Otago Ranfurly Shield team from 1947-50.
He continued to support the Taieri club after his playing days and was coach of the only Taieri team to win the Dunedin premier banner.
The Plainsmen shared the banner with University A in 1955. Bob Turvey was the assistant coach.
At that time, Brooklands Park, known as the "Old Reck", was the club's home ground.
Johnstone saw that the club needed a better ground and clubrooms, and he used his bridge-building business to help develop the new ground, now Peter Johnstone Park.
The club has the best grounds in Otago and they were used when inner-city grounds were too wet to play on. The clubrooms are among the biggest in Dunedin.
The Taieri club begins its 125th anniversary celebrations at Peter Johnstone Park tonight, with 435 past and present members attending.
Fifteen former members have travelled from Australia, and the longest journey, from the Orkney Islands, has been made by John Richardson.
The club has fallen on hard times recently and has been out of premier ranks for the past eight years.
A surviving member of the 1955 championship-winning team is Des Hansen, father of assistant All Black coach Steve Hansen.
That team will be honoured during the celebrations, and club members hope current players will be inspired to get Taieri back into premier ranks.
There was much expertise in the 1955 team, with wing Jack McLachlan going on to coach neighbouring club Green Island to three premier banners in the 1970s.
A key player in that team was prop Laurie Kovaleski, who played more than 200 games for the club between 1949-62.
Kovaleski played 50 games for Otago between 1951-57.
Noted former players attending the celebrations are Malcolm McLeod, the first five-eighth in the 1955 team, and halfback Colin Starkey, who played three games for Otago from the club in 1953.
Former premier captain Murray Haig will attend the anniversary with his father, Bert Haig, who followed his son into the club.
Bert Haig. a stalwart of the great Otago Ranfurly Shield teams, played for the Dunedin, Crescent and Lawrence clubs.
Dave Johnston, the club's most prominent administrator, played for Southern and Otago. He is a former president of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union.
The guest speakers at Peter Johnstone Park tonight are assistant All Black coach Steve Hansen and 1974 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Dick Tayler.
