Dunedin

“ My hopes were now centred upon Dunedin, for I knew that practically everybody there knew me, and I felt very hopeful that my reception would go [Pg 233] far to make up for what could only be classed as failure hitherto. I was to appear in the Garrison Hall, the largest auditorium in the city, and although it was not crowded it was well filled. One of my old Dunedin friends, a very prominent man of business and an expert accountant, at whose house I was a guest, congratulated me upon the audience, but when I told him the amount of the takings he was dumbfounded. ”

“ Specimens or samples, the result of an hour or two of inexpert work, amounting to three ounces of gold exhibited in a shop window, set Dunedin all ablaze.
Past existence had been a monotonous, pleasant experience. A slow steady development had been taking place, the population was like a large family annually growing, knowing and trusting each other to a large extent, but in the event of one individual attempting to shoot ahead being manifested, jealousy and disparaging prophecies were certain attendants. ”

“ It is remarkable that, throughout a career practically coeval with the existence of Dunedin as a city, Dr Stuart, while by no means addicted to concessions where essentials are involved, and ever giving full credit for good intentions and conscientious conduct to those from whom on dogmatic points he materially differed, has kept himself clear of the bitterness of controversy, and has been content to do his own duty according to his convictions. ”

“ In short, we possess all that could be looked for in a community of some 40,000 souls, situated much nearer to the world's great centres of life and civilization, and Dunedinites have no need to be ashamed of their town, or to apologise for its youth, while of its beauty of situation they may justly be proud. In conclusion, we would ask if so much has been accomplished in less than fifty years, what may not be expected when Dunedin attains its hundredth anniversary? ”

“ A few of the early settlers spoke and wrote rather doubtfully as to the wisdom of placing Dunedin where it stood. Some thought the chief town ought to have been at Port Chalmers; another small coterie asserted that the distinction should have been conferred on the Clutha district; the majority, however, heartily approved the choice. Unfavourable comments were also made by the newspapers in the neighbouring settlements as to the character of the community. Nelson and Wellington were particularly pointed and venomous in their remarks. ”

“ H. J. Walter, and is known as the Queen's Drive, winds along the face of the hills above the town and from this vantage ground many of the finest views of Dunedin are obtained. As the stranger first strolls or drives leisurely along its meandering course new beauties are continually displayed. There is a sameness in the prospect, and yet it is never the same. The town is always seen nestling below, with the lake-like harbour and the sunny slopes of the Peninsula beyond; but each point of view presents these features in some new aspect. ”

“ For a quiet walk, when time presses not, the visitor to Dunedin could not do better than take the tram-car down to Dundas street and there alighting wend his way across the Leith and up to the Northern Cemetery grounds. To a spot like this, the attractions are very varied in character. Some frequent it to show their lasting devotedness to those who have gone before, others simply to read the records of the past and admire the artistic skill displayed in the attempts to perpetuate the memories of very many who formerly acted their part on this busy stage. ”

“ Cainozoic.—Caversham sandstone, volcanic series. Cretaceo-tertiary.—Coal-beds. Palæozoic.—Schists. I. Recent.—The recent deposits in the neighbourhood of Dunedin comprise the river-beds, harbour deposits, and the extensive Æolian deposits on the coast. The last-mentioned are of considerable area and importance. They commence beyond Green Island, at Brighton, near the belt of schist, which here reaches to the sea, and forms the picturesque headland upon which the township is situated. ”

“ While attending assiduously to his own business, Mr Gillies took an active part in the promotion of enterprises having for their object the public good and the development of the resources of the colony, with the result that he became one of the leading business men of Dunedin. He was mainly instrumental in forming the Dunedin Waterworks Company, of which he was a director; and he took an active part in the formation of the Mosgiel Woollen Factory Company, of which he was a director until his death. ”

“ Clair, the favourite and health-giving resort of Dunedin citizens when holidays present the opportunity. Not being a very warlike race, and little up in big guns—we are flattered by the high encomiums bestowed on the three fortifications erected along the beach to defend the city from any would-be blackmailer. The visitor can leisurely inspect the St Clair Thunderer, proceed quietly along the sands, provided the tide permits, and inhale the healthful ozone, which the not always balmy breezes waft in towards the passer by, and renew or revive fading energies. ”

“ For the period ending 31st December, 1848, the public revenue, exclusive of land sales, was £909 10s 7d, the expenditure being £659 4s 9d; and according to the census taken on the 31st March, 1849, twelve months from the first arrivals, the population of Dunedin consisted of 240 males and 204 females, a total of 444; the births having been 25, the deaths 9, marriages 8. The buildings erected were 46 in clay, battens, fern-tree, and poles, 41 in wood, 5 of grass and poles, 5 of poles and logs, 2 of bricks, and none in stone; the total being 99, and the estimated cost of the whole £6102. ”

“ A call was to be made on the inhabitants to provide sufficient funds, as all then available was £3,000, which left £2,500 to be collected.
The proposal was received with enthusiasm, but the appeal for subscriptions was not so successful, so after considerable delay a wooden building of more modest design was erected, which still remains at the corner of High and Manse streets.
Horticultural excellence was one of the earliest aspirations of the Dunedin settlers. A society for the furtherance of this was part of the programme laid down for the community at its very first existence ”

“ Dr Macdonald's wide knowledge of men, his great tact, his sound learning, and his fame as a successful teacher becoming known to the Commissioners, they formed the decided opinion that he was a man pre-eminently fitted for the rectorship of the Otago Boys' High School. They pressed the appointment upon him, and after mature consideration he signified his acceptance. The news of Dr Macdonald's decision was received with wide-spread feelings of regret, and before his departure for Dunedin many leading men of his native country united in doing him honour. ”

“ A large number of houses had been built, every day new ones were being commenced, and an improvement as regards size and stability was also noticeable. In Princes-street a two-storied stone store was in course of erection, and a two-storied stone dwelling house was in progress at Elm Row, and stands there still, being the oldest stone building in Dunedin. The Club House, too, in Maclaggan-street, which, although of wood, is still to be seen in proximity to the Police Station, will give an idea of the more advanced style of architecture of the period. ”

“ Tolmie's house, there used to be, as indeed there formerly was all round Dunedin, abundance of anise (Angelica gingidium) . The plant is, however, such a favourite with cattle and sheep, that it is nearly exterminated in this neighbourhood. An interesting little patch of it occurs on a ledge of sandstone rock on the south road below Look-out Point. Cattle cannot get down to the ledge from above, and human beings can hardly reach it from below, and here survive a few plants of what used to be one of our commonest species. ”

“ Having married a sister of the late Mr James Wilkie, sen., Mr Rennie took up his residence at his farm on the banks of the Taieri River, near West Taieri, which he improved and cultivated with considerable success. In 1866 he let his farm and left for the Home Country with his wife and daughters. He returned to Otago after an absence of three years, and, having sold his farm, settled down in Dunedin, and began that course of active benevolence for which he was so much distinguished, and in which he continued until his last illness laid him aside. In temperance work he was an enthusiast. ”

“ A. H. Stobo to send to the Home Country for an ordained minister to exercise what we called a vagum ministerium (roving or itinerating ministry) . In due course a gentleman arrived with certificates showing that he was a man of learning as well as a man of character. It was resolved to locate him at Clyde. I was told off to introduce him, but owing to circumstances I was unable to accompany him to his destination. He left Dunedin with introductions to local friends, who were eager for his arrival. The ways of a goldfield in its first stage shocked the worthy man ”

“ A photographic establishment has been opened in Princes-street for some time past, and is well patronised by the public. Watchmakers, chemists, and other similar branches of trade are all having representatives, and the printing offices vie with each other in turning out their almanacs and weekly newspapers, in which poetry and prose, facts and fiction, politics and polemics, are wondrously combined and displayed.
"Of the 2000 quarter-acre sections which comprise the town of Dunedin, 979 have up to date been selected. At the upset price of £12 10s, very few are now disposed of. ”

“ At the outer end of one of the rows of bunks were two closed-in solitary cells, or strong-rooms, if the word strong can in this connection be applied to ordinary planks of wood and to a wooden door. Seeing that, in many instances the world over, massive stone walls and iron doors have failed to prevent the escape of men of the Jack Shepherd class, it goes without saying that the matchboard cells of the old Dunedin Gaol were altogether inadequate to frustrate the efforts of even less desperate men bent on regaining their liberty. ”

“ What four-footed animal is so dangerous to the community as that animal which unites the uncultivated intellect of a man to the uncontrollable passions of a beast?" As there was no law of compulsion that could reach such parents, the Legislature passed a law which deprived them of the dangerous power they possessed; and hence the establishment of the Industrial School.
The first step towards meeting the necessities of the children of the very poor in Dunedin, was the passing of a vote by the Provincial Council in 1863, for the maintenance of Free Schools ”

“ On reaching the summit the explorer can either follow the creek up to its source, and from thence along the mountain side and reach Dunedin by way of Halfway Bush, or, if this route be too long, a shorter one can be taken across country, bringing him to the Reservoir, previously alluded to, whence, reaching Woodhaugh, he may join the coach for the return journey, or he may deviate at the Reservoir and come along a very pleasant line to Maori Hill, from thence descending through the Belt, down past Cosey Dell to George street. ”

“ But now, alas, fire and the axe have wrought havoc with sylvan beauty, and the slopes of Pine Hill and Mount Cargill now furnish sites for the home of many an industrious settler, which is doubtless some compensation for the loss of beauty they have sustained. Even the small patches and clumps of bush which remain have suffered much from the inroads of vagrant cattle, so that the side of the hill next to Dunedin at least, which was once the happy hunting ground of the fern collector, is now, in his eyes at least, a desecrated paradise. ”

“ By the transference of all the Industrial Schools of the colony from the Department of Justice to that of Education the control of the Caversham institution devolved upon him, as Secretary for Education; and since his return to Dunedin in 1886, he has with his former warmth discharged the duties of Official Visitor. Mr. Branigan, also, upon his return from the north, laboured with deep interest and sympathy on the school's behalf until he was laid aside by his final illness. The "Times," of September, 16th, 1873, speaking of his connection with it, said:—"Mr. ”

“ Dundonians love to survey their city and its surroundings from the “Law.” The spectacle is one they may well be proud of. Marvellous has been the change here since Dundee consisted of only four straggling streets, meeting at the central “place” of the “Market Gait,” and a congeries of narrow lanes running from these down to the harbour, consisting, as the local historian tells us, of rude jetties added to the natural haven opening between the headlands of the Chapel Craig and the Castle Rock. Even then, however—four centuries ago and more—it had an interesting history ”

“ He naturally sought the Castle-hill, where Dundee and Dunbarton, with their sixty followers, who of all the Lowlands seemed now alone to remain true to their fugitive king, were drawn up under the cannon of the Half-moon.
"So the villains have sacked Holyrood," said Dundee, smiling grimly.
"To their contentment," replied Walter. "Poor Finland, our jolly chaplain, Wallace, and a hundred brave soldiers, have gone to render a last account of their faithful service; and I alone survive, my lords." ”