Nau mai, haere mai ki Ōtepoti – welcome to Dunedin!
Dunedin is a diverse city, with people coming from ngā hau e whā, the four winds. We welcome 20,000 students to the city each year, we are a refugee resettlement city, and people come from around New Zealand and the world to make Dunedin their new home.
Dunedin has many exciting qualities: a combination of coast and country, wildlife and city life; it is home to wide range of arts, culture, music and we are a UNESCO City of Literature. We host international sporting events and attract big-name music acts. We delight in being community-focussed in our everyday lives.
Ōtepoti has a rich history with both Māori and Scottish antecedents. An amalgamation of Ngāti Māmoe, Waitaha and Ngāi Tahu ‑ making up mana whenua in the south – were here to welcome the first whalers, sealers, traders and then settlers that came to these shores. Dunedin is also proud of its Scottish whakapapa and the warm connection between mana whenua and our Scottish ancestors is expressed most plainly on the Dunedin City Council Coat of Arms – with the Māori warrior and the Highlander on either side.
The Dunedin of the early 20th century, with its strong, regular rhythms of the Scottish diaspora, has melded into a much more complex weave, where no one culture dominates. Chinese, Lebanese, Pasifika and Syrian peoples are among the many who proudly call Dunedin home.
As Mayor of this City, I am passionate about this place and all the activities, events, and, most of all, the people who come together to form part of the whole. Dunedin truly is one of the world’s great small cities, and we trust that wherever you have come from, you have found a welcoming home here.