Dunedin

This article is about the New Zealand city. For other uses, see Dunedin (disambiguation).

Dunedin
Ōtepoti (Māori)
City
Cityscape seen from Signal Hill
Dunedin railway station
Town Hall on The Octagon
Princes Street
Knox Church
Flag of Dunedin
Flag
Coat of arms of Dunedin
Coat of arms
Nicknames: 
Edinburgh of the South;[1]
Dunners (colloquial)[2]
Motto(s): 
Maiorum Institutis Utendo
(By following in the Steps of our Forefathers)[3]
Coordinates: 45°52′27″S 170°30′13″E / 45.87417°S 170.50361°E / -45.87417; 170.50361
CountryNew Zealand
RegionOtago
Communities
  • Strath Taieri
  • Waikouaiti Coast
  • Mosgiel-Taieri
  • West Harbour
  • Otago Peninsula
  • Saddle Hill
Settled by Māoric. 1300[4][5]
Settled by Europeans1848
Incorporated[6]1855; 169 years ago (1855)
Named forDùn Èideann – Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh
NZ ParliamentDunedin
Taieri
Te Tai Tonga (Māori)
Government
[7]
 • MayorJules Radich
 • Deputy MayorCherry Lucas
 • MPs
 • Territorial authorityDunedin City Council
Area
[8]
 • Territorial3,286.14 km2 (1,268.79 sq mi)
 • Urban
91.16 km2 (35.20 sq mi)
Population
 (June 2024)[9]
 • Territorial136,000
 • Density41/km2 (110/sq mi)
 • Urban
106,700
 • Urban density1,200/km2 (3,000/sq mi)
DemonymDunedinite
Time zoneUTC+12:00 (NZST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+13:00 (NZDT)
Postcodes
9010, 9011, 9012, 9013, 9014, 9016, 9018, 9022, 9023, 9024, 9035, 9076, 9077, 9081, 9082, 9092
Area code03
Local iwiNgāi Tahu
WebsiteDunedinNZ.com

Dunedin (/dʌˈniːdɪn/ ⓘ[10][a] duh-NEE-din; Māori: Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from Dùn Èideann ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.[12] The city has a rich Māori, Scottish, and Chinese heritage.[13]

With an estimated population of 136,000 as of June 2024, Dunedin is New Zealand's seventh-most populous metropolitan and urban area.[9] For cultural, geographical, and historical reasons, the city has long been considered one of New Zealand's four main centres.[b] The urban area of Dunedin lies on the central-eastern coast of Otago, surrounding the head of Otago Harbour. The harbour and hills around Dunedin are the remnants of an extinct volcano. The city suburbs extend out into the surrounding valleys and hills, onto the isthmus of the Otago Peninsula, and along the shores of the Otago Harbour and the Pacific Ocean.

Archaeological evidence points to lengthy occupation of the area by Māori prior to the arrival of Europeans. The province and region of Otago takes its name from the Ngāi Tahu village of Otakou at the mouth of the harbour,[21] which became a whaling station in the 1830s.

In 1848 a Scottish settlement was established by the Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland and between 1855 and 1900 many thousands of Scots emigrated to the incorporated city. Dunedin's population and wealth boomed during the 1860s' Otago gold rush, and for a brief period of time it became New Zealand's largest urban area. The city saw substantial migration from mainland China at the same time, predominately from Guangdong and Guangxi.[22] Dunedin is home to New Zealand's oldest Chinese community.[13]

Today Dunedin has a diverse economy which includes manufacturing, publishing, arts, tourism and technology-based industries. The mainstay of the city's economy remains centred around tertiary education, with students from the University of Otago, New Zealand's oldest university, and the Otago Polytechnic, accounting for a large proportion of the population; 21.6 per cent of the city's population was aged between 15 and 24 at the 2006 census, compared to the New Zealand average of 14.2 per cent.[23] Dunedin is also noted for its vibrant music scene, as the 1980s birthplace of the Dunedin sound (which heavily influenced grunge, indie and modern alternative rock).[24] In 2014, the city was designated as a UNESCO City of Literature.[25]

  1. ^ "Southern style". Stuff. 19 March 2009. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  2. ^ "Supersport's Good Week / Bad Week: An unhappy spectator". The New Zealand Herald. 1 May 2009. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2009.
  3. ^ https://teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/23508/civic-coats-of-arms Te Ara, The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 'Civic coats of arms'
  4. ^ Irwin, Geoff; Walrond, Carl (4 March 2009). "When was New Zealand first settled? – The date debate". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 24 May 2010. Retrieved 14 February 2010.
  5. ^ Anderson 1983.
  6. ^ Dunedin Town Board
  7. ^ "Mayor Dave Cull". Dunedin City Council. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  8. ^ "ArcGIS Web Application". statsnz.maps.arcgis.com. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Aotearoa Data Explorer". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
  10. ^ "Dunedin", OxfordDictionaries.com, Oxford University Press, archived from the original on 7 November 2018, retrieved 8 November 2018
  11. ^ Deverson, Tony; Kennedy, Graeme, eds. (2005). "Dunedin". The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195584516.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-558451-6. Archived from the original on 6 November 2023. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  12. ^ Dunedin: Edinburgh of the south Archived 16 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Scotsman, 18 April 2012
  13. ^ a b Bradshaw, Alex (15 August 2022). "The Chinese community of Dunedin – GIANTS". Radio New Zealand.
  14. ^ David Thorns; Ben Schrader (11 March 2010). "City history and people — Towns to cities". Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  15. ^ "September 2003". National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. 28 February 2007. Archived from the original on 5 January 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  16. ^ "Dunedin". Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  17. ^ "Our history". Plunket Society. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  18. ^ "Youth Education Service history". New Zealand Police. Archived from the original on 27 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  19. ^ Bannister, Matthew. "Flying Nun History 1980–1995". undertheradar.com. Archived from the original on 14 October 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  20. ^ Benson, Nigel (29 November 2008). "Dunedin jazz stalwart in full swing". Otago Daily Times. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  21. ^ Malcolm McKinnon (2005). "Otago region — The Otago settlement". Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 15 June 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  22. ^ Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "Chinese". teara.govt.nz. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  23. ^ "2013 Census QuickStats about a place: Dunedin City". Statistics New Zealand. Archived from the original on 8 February 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  24. ^ "Flying Nun Records: 10 of the best songs of the Dunedin sound". the Guardian. 27 January 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  25. ^ "28 cities join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network". Archived from the original on 15 October 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2014.


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