Street names and plaques

Street names are the most common form of memorial in the city.

Two of significance are Falcon (formerly James Street) and Oates (formerly John Street) in Roslyn. The names were changed in 1913 after the amalgamation of the Kaikorai and Rosyln Boroughs.

  • Falcon Street was named after Captain Robert Falcon Scott RN, Commander of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1912, in commemoration of his brave and heroic fortitude. The city already had many Scott Streets, (now reduced to one in St Kilda and another in Waverley) hence the use of Scott's second name, Falcon.
  • Oates Street was named after Captain L.E.G. Oates, Iniskilling Dragoons, of the same expedition to commemorate his supreme act of self sacrifice in choosing to heroically leave the team and die of exposure rather than be a burden because he was already badly frost-bitten.

In 1939 a marble plaque was fixed in the clay bank at the junction of the two streets and unveiled with suitable ceremony attended by civic dignitaries and the Kaikorai Bugle Band.

Other street names commemorate:

  • Early settlers - Cargill, Jones, Valpy, Every
  • Politicians and their families - Marion, Jane [Macandrew]
  • Soldiers - Cockerell
  • Sportsmen - Lovelock
  • Sundry other achievers.

One notable feature is the relative absence of women's names, apart from Ethel Benjamin, Ethel MacMillan and Emily Siedeberg - all cul de sacs in the university area, renamed in Suffrage Centennial Year 1993.

Plaques

If you look carefully, there are hundreds of plaques around the city, some to famous national figures, like the Pompallier Memorial, Otakou, but many to ordinary Dunedinites who added something to the life of the city.

  • Taiaroa Head - to the men and women who served there during World War 2
  • John Wickliffe Square - to Constable Joe Oswald, points officer in the Exchange 1929-45.
  • Dunedin Railway Station platform - to the engineering achievement involved in the construction of the Taieri Gorge line
  • Truby King Reserve, Seacliff - marking the magnolia tree mentioned in novels by Janet Frame.
  • On a seat outside Centre City Mall - to Arthur Savill, the busking cowboy.

Last reviewed: 13 Nov 2009 8:43am


Dunedin City Council