Dunedin is built where the rising sea flooded ancient volcanoes. When the Maori people came here centuries ago, the harbour and ocean teemed with life - fish, seals, and penguins. The harbour was a nursery for Humpback whales.

The abundance of life attracted Europeans, for there was money to be made.
But the city does not owe its existence to high prices for whale oil and seal skins.

In early Victorian Scotland, the church was divided and some who wished to breakaway from it believed that a new society with an emphasis on religious and educational needs could be established in Otago.

They believed Scotland's city of Edinburgh could be replicated in these southern latitudes – a city promising settlers an ordered, stable life and sober Presbyterian values.

Dunedin was the chosen site for this new Edinburgh – a flat city. The surveyor ran straight lines through tangled vegetation swamps, and ignored the contours.
There are some very steep streets in Dunedin adding to its charm.

In 1848 two ships, the Philip Laing and the John Wickliffe, arrived at Port Chalmers loaded with settlers and supplies. There was no road, and Dunedin - named for the old celtic name for Edinburgh - was a long row up the harbour.

The discovery of Gold transformed Otago into the wealthiest province in New Zealand, making Otago and Dunedin men the most powerful in the country.

Founding principles were not trampled in the stampede for gold and riches. One sober Presbyterian belief was the value of education for all. New Zealand’s first University was established here. A symbol of civilization.

Dunedin is home to New Zealand’s first all girls secondary school. The first medical school and teacher’s college.

The first railway ran from the city to Port Chalmers. By 1880 Dunedin was the mainstay of New Zealand’s economy – the leading exporter and importer, and the foremost distribution centre.

Wool from huge sheep runs inland was the main export.
Dunedin’s architecture began to reflect the prosperity of the city optimism, permanence, piety achievement and power.

Architectural achievements included the grandest railway station ever built in the country and First Church designed by Lawson in the revised gothic style.

There are a great variety of imported architectural styles standing side by side.
Victorian buildings like the Law Courts, the Municipal Chambers, and the Crown Flour mill constructed of stone and brick reinforcing the ‘built to last’ principles of the Scottish founders and testament to the commercial vitality and prominence of the time.

Dunedin has not enjoyed or suffered another gold boom and there’s been no pressing need to destroy our architectural heritage and build new high-rise concrete and glass on the foundations of the old. The city has retained its Victorian image but it is not entrenched in the past. New development is steady and impressive.