Dunedin Thematic Study

This study is a Thematic Heritage Study for Dunedin City presented in two volumes.

It provides an overview history of Dunedin, written around a series of 14 themes and 89 associated sub-themes, which were developed by a consultant team and refined through DCC and community involvement.

Purpose and Scope

The Dunedin City Council brief was to prepare a thematic heritage study for the city that was to form the basis for a review and future update of the heritage schedules in its District Plan. This schedule review was undertaken between 2011 – 2016 as part of the Proposed Second Generation District Plan preparations.

The study attempts to identify a comprehensive range of tangible and intangible heritage values and items, including built and modified landscapes, places, structures and features that define Dunedin as a unique place within New Zealand. It attempts to be inclusive of all values which represent the cultural diversity of Dunedin, but it is noted that a project focusing on the Māori heritage was undertaken as a separate exercise.

The study is not intended to be an extensive research document but rather the first part of a potentially multi-staged project to initiate the ongoing and more detailed process of identifying places of historic significance. It is seen as an organic framework that can be added to and developed as information is confirmed, new information comes to light and goals are revised.

It is expected that broad public scrutiny of the report will provide the catalyst to allow individuals and community groups to expand the history as an ongoing project, defining Dunedin as a unique place through the continued occupation of the city and its surrounds.

Thematic frameworks have been widely used overseas, and increasingly in New Zealand, to focus on an area as a 'cultural landscape', a concept that is used to understand historic heritage in the widest context.

"Cultural landscapes are cultural properties and represent the ‘combined works of nature and of man’ designated in Article 1 of the World Heritage Convention. They are illustrative of the evolution of human society and settlement over time, under the influence of the physical constraints and/or opportunities presented by their natural environment and of successive social, economic and cultural forces, both external and internal.” [Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, UNESCO, January 2008]

The themes have been specifically tailored to Dunedin, based on themes developed elsewhere in Australia and America, and also using New Zealand models formulated by Heritage New Zealand and the Department of Conservation. The themes were further developed and tested by the consultant team, the Council Steering Group and through the stakeholder workshops.

The thematic analysis has identified a range of protected items across all areas, although no assessment has been made on how representative these may be, nor whether they are the most appropriate examples.

Research and Consultation Undertaken

The Dunedin City brief identified the following tasks:

• Review of all background material including primary and secondary source material, comprising written records, maps, photos and other documents and background for the history and to guide development of the thematic framework.
• Review and evaluation of Heritage New Zealand listings contained in the District Plan to highlight gaps in the heritage schedules.
• Development of the thematic framework.
• Site visits and field recording and assessment by all consultants, to review current heritage schedules.
• Liaison with Council Officers and community representatives, including two facilitated stakeholder workshops (23 & 24 April) to refine and develop themes.
• Review of existing District Plan heritage schedules, identifying gaps and making recommendations for further research. (No detailed archival research was carried out on individual listed places or items.)
• Preparation of draft and final document with internal and Council peer review.
• Preparation of final report in hard copy and electronic version to Council.
• Public release of document.

Authorship

This Thematic Contextual Overview for Dunedin City has been produced by Michael Findlay with input from consultants Peter Petchey (archaeologist), Richard Bollard (Salmond Reed Architects) John Adam (Endangered Gardens) and project coordinator, Bruce Petry (Salmond Reed Architects).

Acknowledgements

Considerable assistance has been provided by others in the preparation of this report – far too many to acknowledge in detail. The consultant team would like to acknowledge the following representatives and groups:

• Bill Sykes, Dunedin City Council Archives
• Hocken Library
• Otago Settlers Museum
• University of Otago
• George Griffiths, Otago Heritage Books
• Peter Entwisle
• Janet Stephenson, University of Otago Geography Department
• New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Otago Branch
• Doctor Alec Wearing, University of Otago
• Professor Brooking, University of Otago
• Paul Star, Dunedin; Archives New Zealand, Dunedin
• Dunedin City Libraries – McNabb Room; Land Information New Zealand, Dunedin
• University of Otago Library;
• Christchurch City Library
• Wellington City Library, Archives New Zealand, Wellington
• Auckland City Library
• Staff of the Hector Library,Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington
• Doctor Jill Hamel, Dunedin; Louise Beaumont, Te Awamutu
• Ruth Ahern, Waikouaiti
• Waikouaiti Museum staff
• Dawn Ramsay, Middlemarch Museum
• Anne Elliot, Middlemarch
• Outram Museum staff
• Owners of Cottlesbrook Station, Middlemarch
• Bill Sykes, Archivist, and Alison Breese, Archivist, Business Services, Dunedin City Council
• Mick Reece, Dunedin City Council
• Doctor Michael Roche, Massey University
• Elena O’Neill, Parks Officer (Trees), Dunedin
• Doctor Rupert Tipples, Lincoln University
• Staff at the Taieri Historical Park, Outram
• Stuart Read, Landscape Architect, Planning Department, New South Wales Government

We are grateful for permission to reproduce photographs and plans from the collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Canterbury Museum, Dunedin City Council, Dunedin Public Libraries, New Zealand Archives, Dunedin, and the Auckland Public Library.

Particular  thanks is due to Michael Findlay whose tireless research and courage to undertake this contextual history has resulted in the first historical narrative of its type, which forms the fundamental structure of this document.

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