South Dunedin - History

History

Prior to European settlement, much of the area of The Flat was poorly drained and marshy. Early settlement of the area took place along the hill fringes at Caversham and St. Clair. The arrival at St Clair of William Henry Valpy (1793–1852) in 1849 led to the first development of permanent roading in the area; Valpy, reputedly the wealthiest man in New Zealand, had a branch dray road built from Dunedin's central settlement to his St. Clair farm which ran along the edge of what is now South Dunedin. With the rapid expansion of the city at the time of the Otago Gold Rush of the 1860s, settlement expended, notably around what is now Hillside Road.

Much of the swampy land of The Flat was drained through the efforts of Chinese settlers were notable among early residents in the St Clair area, and largely through their effort the swampy land inland from the beach was drained and converted into market gardens. Much of the young city's vegetable production was centred on Chinese allotments in an area close to what is now Macandrew Road, Forbury, and there were further allotments in both Andersons Bay and Tainui.

South Dunedin became a borough in 1876, and by the turn of the twentieth century was a thriving industrial and residential town, as can be seen from its description in the 1905 Cyclopedia of New Zealand:

"The Forbury public school, St. Patrick Catholic school, and a convent and orphanage are situated in the borough, which contains, also, the Dunedin City Corporation gasworks, a rope and twine factory, a fruit preserving factory, a box factory, and furniture workshops. There are Presbyterian, Wesleyan, Baptist, and Roman Catholic churches, and Salvation Army barracks; and members of the Church of Christ hold services in the Town Hall. The Borough Council has an endowment of 155 acres on the harbour front, which is leased, in small sections, to ratepayers who desire to build in that quarter. The Town Hall was build in 1902, at a cost of £2,118, and contains a spacious council-room, offices, and strong room. The hall is much used for lectures, dances, and other forms of entertainment, and is centrally situated on the Hillside road, the main business thoroughfare of the borough. There are four licensed hotels in the district, also a volunteer Fire Brigade and station, maintained at a cost of about £60 a year. The streets are well formed, and lighted with twenty-five gas lamps, and the footpaths are asphalted and kept in good order."

The borough amalgamated with Dunedin City in 1905, a year after its neighbour, Caversham.