Pine Hill, New Zealand facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Pine Hill
Suburb
Pine Hill Location in New Zealand
Country	New Zealand
Local authority	Dunedin
Area
• Land	118 ha (292 acre)
Population  (June 2023)
• Total	2,450

	Pine Hill, New Zealand

Pine Hill is a suburb, a hill, and a wider area in the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. It sits on a hill that shares its name. This hill is part of Mount Cargill. From Pine Hill, you can look down over North East Valley and Glenleith. It's about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) north of Dunedin's city center.

The Pine Hill area is where two streams meet: the Water of Leith and its biggest branch, the Lindsay Creek. When people say "Pine Hill," they often mean a group of suburbs on the hill's slopes. These include Pine Hill itself (on the higher parts) and two other suburbs on the lower slopes: Dalmore and Liberton.

Exploring Dalmore

Dalmore is the oldest and southernmost suburb on Pine Hill. It's very close to The Gardens. This area is a suburb and a shopping spot near the Dunedin Botanic Gardens. Dalmore is on the steep slopes northwest of The Gardens. It's also north of the top end of George Street, which is a main street in the city.

You can get to Dunedin's city center from Dalmore using two roads. One is Gladstone Road, which is narrow and winding. The other is the Pine Hill Extension. This road is the lower part of Pine Hill Road. It's also part of State Highway 1. This road goes up the steep sides of Dalmore, above the Water of Leith valley. It then connects to the upper part of Pine Hill Road and the Dunedin Northern Motorway.

Discovering Liberton

Liberton is mostly made up of state houses built after World War II. It is located just above Dalmore. The houses are on several avenues and crescents that branch off Pine Hill Road. There's a small group of shops where Dalmore ends and Liberton begins. Other than these shops, Liberton is a quiet residential area.

Pine Hill School, the main primary school for the area, is in Liberton. Liberton Christian School is also here. It was Dunedin's first special-character Protestant primary school. Besides roads connecting to Dalmore and Pine Hill, Liberton only has one other road link to Dunedin's suburbs. This is a steep, winding road to Buccleugh Street in North East Valley. There were once plans to build more houses connecting Liberton with Selwyn Street, but these plans never happened.

The Upper Slopes of Pine Hill

Above Pine Hill School, you'll find the suburb of Pine Hill itself. The lower parts of this suburb are like typical residential areas. But as you go higher, it becomes more rural. You'll see small farms and larger farms closer to the top of Pine Hill Road. Campbells Road is the only other long road in this suburb.

From Campbells Road, you can see great views. You can look across North East Valley and Normanby. You can also see the suburb of Opoho and the top of Signal Hill, which is about 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) to the east. Sometimes, the upper part of Pine Hill around Campbells Road is called Pine Heights. However, the Dunedin City Council and maps don't officially recognize this name. It also doesn't have its own postcode. People living in these houses, which used to be farmland, often use the term to feel different from the lower suburbs that have more state houses.

Pine Hill Road continues to climb into the countryside above the suburb. It connects with Maxwellton Street, a narrow rural road. This road crosses a bridge over the Dunedin Northern Motorway. It then links up with Patmos Avenue in the suburb of Glenleith. Pine Hill Road ends at a junction with Cowan Road. Cowan Road is a very steep rural road that goes up to the top of Mount Cargill. This road is used to access the television transmitter station on the mountain's summit. Because of this, Cowan Road is the highest road near Dunedin's main urban area.

Besides Pine Hill School, there are other important buildings in the area. One is Aquinas College, built in the early 1950s. It's a student hall of residence for the University of Otago and is on the slopes of Dalmore. Another impressive building is the Santa Sabina Convent. This building is near the top of Buccleugh Street, between Liberton and North East Valley. A new housing complex has been built around this historic building.

Population and People

The Pine Hill-Dalmore area covers about 1.18 square kilometers (0.46 square miles). In 2023, it had an estimated population of 2,450. This means there are about 2076 people per square kilometer.

At the 2018 New Zealand census, Pine Hill-Dalmore had 2,289 people living there. This was a small increase of 63 people (2.8%) since the 2013 census. However, it was a decrease of 51 people (−2.2%) since the 2006 census. There were 882 households. There were 1,134 males and 1,155 females, meaning slightly more females than males. The average age was 33.2 years. About 18.3% of the people were under 15 years old.

Most people (85.6%) were European/Pākehā. Other groups included Māori (10.2%), Pasifika (4.8%), and Asian (8.7%). Some people identified with more than one ethnic group. About 22.7% of people were born overseas.

When asked about their religion, 57.0% said they had no religion. About 28.8% were Christian. Smaller numbers followed other religions like Hindu, Muslim, or Buddhist.

Among those aged 15 and older, 29.1% had a university degree or higher. About 14.1% had no formal qualifications. The average income was $24,100. About 42.5% of people aged 15 and over worked full-time.

Local Schools

Pine Hill has two main schools:

• Pine Hill School is a state primary school. It teaches students from Year 1 to Year 6. As of February 2024. , it has a roll of 39 students. The school first opened in 1872.
• Liberton Christian School is a state-integrated primary school. It teaches students from Year 1 to Year 8. As of February 2024. , it has a roll of 111 students. It opened in 1982 and became state-integrated in 1999.

Both of these schools welcome both boys and girls.