Council archives

Early years

The town was founded in 1848. Charles Kettle, surveyor for the New Zealand Company, placed the Octagon at its heart, with Moray Place forming an outer octagon of thoroughfares. George and Princes streets – the names of Edinburgh’s principal streets – were the axis, and a town belt reserve separated town and country.

After 10 years the settlement’s population was just 1,712. It was the gold rushes from July 1861 that transformed Dunedin – its population increased to nearly 15,000 by the end of the 1860s and nearly tripled between then and 1881. In the mid-1860s, and between 1878 and 1881 (but never again), it was New Zealand’s largest urban centre.

The city invested in education, religion and public works. Bell Hill, between the Octagon and the harbour, was demolished to allow expansion. Substantial buildings included Otago Museum (1876–77); the main building of the University of Otago with its clock tower (1878); the council chambers (1878–80); and St Joseph’s Catholic cathedral (1886). Architect Robert Lawson was responsible for some of the most distinctive buildings – First and Knox Presbyterian churches (1873 and 1876), Otago Boys’ High School (1884), and Trinity Methodist Church (1870), since 1978 the home of the Fortune Theatre. Dunedin Public Art Gallery was set up in 1884; it moved into a refurbished building in 1996.

The Dunedin Town Board

The history of local government in the Dunedin area began with the establishment of the Dunedin Town Board in 1855 under an Otago Provincial Council ordinance, seven years after organised European settlement began in 1848. The town board was established in response to the growing need for a body to coordinate the development of the fledgling town. The board was hampered in its activities by a lack of funds and continually struggled to find the money to turn muddy tracks into streets and create the rudimentary beginnings of the drainage system. The first rate was levied in 1857 but seems to have  done little to help the situation. The town board was replaced by the Dunedin City Council in 1865.

District roads boards

After the establishment of the town board, the next step in the development of local government was the formation of the first district roads boards in 1856, also by an Otago Provincial Council Ordinance. The roads boards administered the construction of local roads in suburban and rural areas and in some areas did much to help the development of communities. Their efforts were coordinated by a general road board consisting of the Provincial Council Executive and locally elected representatives. The roads boards went through many reorganisations before gradually being replaced by other forms of local government.

Boroughs, counties and town boards

Between 1860 and 1886 there was a period of growth in the number of local authorities; about 35 local authorities were established in the Dunedin area. This was in response to the growing need for services in quickly developing settlements and rural areas. Port Chalmers and Waikouaiti (then called West Hawksbury) established local authorities in the 1860s, and the suburban areas of St Kilda, South Dunedin, Maori Hill and Green Island all established boroughs in 1875-76. The abolition of provincial governments in 1876 provided further impetus for the establishment of local authorities. New legislation created a new type of authority, the county, and this changed the way boroughs were constituted, making them more appealing to local communities.

The Waikouaiti and Taieri Counties were established in 1877 and continued for a century until they amalgamated in 1977 to form Silverpeaks County. Peninsula County was also formed in 1877 but did little other than meet occasionally to distribute funds to the various roads' boards on the Peninsula until 1927 when the county was reconstituted. Peninsula County amalgamated with the city in 1967.

In 1882 the need for an intermediate type of local authority suitable to the needs of small rural communities was recognised by the Town Boards Act which resulted in the establishment of town boards in Mosgiel, Outram and Greytown (now called Allanton). Mosgiel soon became a borough and the Greytown Board amalgamated with Taieri County in 1907, but the Outram Town Board continued until 1960 when it amalgamated with the Taieri County. The short-lived Bay Town Board (in the Anderson’s Bay area) was formed in 1905 and amalgamated with the city in 1916.

Amalgamations

The years following the turn of the century were marked by a series of amalgamations within the Dunedin urban area as suburban boroughs decided to join the city; after finding they lacked the resources to provide more modern services and amenities to their citizens. Further amalgamations occurred in  the 1960’s.

The most recent reorganisation of local government occurred in 1989 when eight local authorities amalgamated to form the new Dunedin City Council under a scheme designated by the Local Government Commission. These local authorities were: the Dunedin City Council, the Silverpeaks County Council, the Port Chalmers Borough Council, the Green Island Borough Council, the St Kilda Borough Council, the Mosgiel Borough Council, the Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage Board and the Ocean Beach Domain Board.

Dunedin City Council (DCC) Archives hold a unique set of archives that can aid you in your research. Here you can find some information, resources and handy hints for using our archives.

Property and land records

For researching house history, built heritage, land information.

• Building plans.
• Drainage plans.
• Rates books and valuation rolls - the age of your house can be determined in the rates books or valuation rolls. These books are a great source as they detail what year a house was erected, shown by a values/rates increase This is usually accompanied by a note “new house”.
• Aerial photographs – these can show historic land use over time. These begin in 1947.
• Photographs – see our online collection here DCC archives Flickr page (link to external website, new window). This is a living collection that we regularly add to.
• Maps – cadastral maps can be used in conjunction with rates books and valuation rolls to determine the location of a property.
• City Engineers records.
• Street name change lists – many of the city’s street names have changed over time.

Genealogy

For researching family history, house and land ownership.

DCC Archives hold records that can help with genealogical enquiries. Most of our archives are arranged by land, not by people’s names, but we can still find people if we know roughly where they may have lived in the city.

Before asking for assistance, you can prepare by checking local directories (available at Dunedin Public Library or other archive institutions). Try Stones and Wises. It’s good to note where your relative was living in the street (how close to an intersection they were, etc). This helps us to locate the area and check properties in the old rates books. Once we locate them, we can tell you what property they owned or leased, how long for, where that property is now and whether the house/building is still standing.

• A Guide to Family History Sources (PDF, 142kb, new window)

Department Reports 1915 - 1916

The Department Reports were produced by the Council at yearly intervals from 1905 until 1981 and gave a concise and detailed view of the operations of the Dunedin City Corporation. We have digitised the 1915 - 1916 edition.

It is more than 100 years since this report recorded the opening of the Rhododendron Dell at the Botanic Gardens, the amalgamations of Maori Hill, Bay Town and Mornington Boroughs into the City, and the first Anzac Day. While some of the activities carried out by the City at this time are no longer civic concerns, most of the work is entirely familiar in substance to any modern ratepayer.

Town Board Rates Book Transcript 1857 - 1862

The Dunedin Town Board collected rates from 1857 under the Dunedin Boards and Ordinance Session II, No 13, 1855. This 1992 transcript records the alphabetical listing of owners of land rated in Dunedin from 1857 to 1862. Once you have located a person and the legal description listed, you can find out where the land is by using the 1909 Dunedin Map by searching for the block number (roman numerals) and then the section.

There are further notes on how to use this transcript on the first page of the pdf document.

Please note: There are no surviving rates books for 1862-1874.

Dunedin Town Board Rates Book Transcript 1857-1862 (PDF, 5.4MB, new window)

DCC Family Tree

This family tree maps how DCC’s predecessor’s merged into other authorities and then DCC over time. The last major merge was the 1989 Local Government Reorganisation Act which created the current Dunedin City Council.

The records and archives that have survived of these authorities are within the DCC collection.

Dunedin City 1909

This 1909 map shows streets, reserves, harbour land, old ward boundaries, church and government land. This is very useful for working out former street names and formations and provides the legal descriptions of land. The legal descriptions can be directly related to land listed in DCC's historic rates books.

Please note: The numbers on the sections are legal descriptions, not postal addresses.

Compare Dunedin in 1872 to today

View the 1872 map of Dunedin sourced from the DCC Archives (link to external website, new window).

Street names in Dunedin and surrounding suburbs in August 1915

View the street names in Dunedin and surrounding suburbs, August 1915 (link to external website, new window).

Rights categories

Dunedin City Council (DCC) Archives uses the following different Creative Commons rights categories for images within this website and Flickr page.  If you have any questions about our rights and permissions, please contact archives@dcc.govt.nz. The original copyright for all images displayed is held by the DCC.

Public Domain (link to external website, new window)

Images that are no longer restricted by copyright are marked this way, making them easily discoverable and available to others. This applies to reproductions of two-dimensional works, e.g., paintings, photographs, posters, that are out of copyright under the New Zealand Copyright Act 1994.

Some rights reserved - Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) (link to external website, new window)

Share, copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. Adapt - remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.

Can I use DCC Archives photos?

Yes you can! We just require you to attribute us as the source. Please read our guidelines for more information.

DCC Archives Copyright Guidelines on Images (PDF, 359.6KB, opens in a new window)