Suburbs of Dunedin facts for kids

Dunedin is a cool city in the South Island of New Zealand. It's home to 134,600 people (June 2023)! This article will tell you all about the different areas, or suburbs, that make up Dunedin. We'll start from the middle and work our way out, going around like the hands of a clock.

Exploring Dunedin's City Centre

Map of central Dunedin. See the main streets and the railway line!

The very heart of Dunedin is a special eight-sided area called The Octagon. It's like a big plaza with a road going through the middle. Around it is another, even bigger eight-sided street called Moray Place.

The main shopping area stretches north from The Octagon along George Street. You'll also find shops south on Princes Street and east on Lower Stuart Street. If you walk about 400 metres east from The Octagon down Lower Stuart Street, you'll reach Anzac Square and the amazing Dunedin Railway Station. Beyond that are the industrial areas and the harbour where ships come and go.

A little further south from The Octagon on Princes Street is an area called The Exchange. This used to be where the Dunedin Stock Exchange was located. The University of Otago even started here before moving to its current spot in Dunedin North. Its official name is still Custom House Square.

The city's main shopping and business area first grew around The Exchange, especially where Princes and Rattray Streets meet. The big storage buildings were just to the east, near the park called Queens Gardens. This area, now known as the Warehouse Precinct, has been updated and made beautiful in recent years. Queens Gardens has the city's main war memorial, called a cenotaph. Nearby, you can visit the Otago Settlers Museum and the Dunedin Chinese Garden. Even further east are the docks at the top of the Otago Harbour. There are plans to turn the area near the railway station into a cool spot with unique restaurants and shops.

Over time, the main business area has slowly moved north towards George Street. However, some new shops have opened in Crawford and Cumberland Streets, south and east of The Exchange. Just above and to the west of the city centre is a hilly area called City Rise. This is where you can find many of Dunedin's impressive old houses. It's bordered by the Town Belt, which is one of the oldest green areas in the world. It was designed by Charles Kettle way back in 1846!

Inner Suburbs: Close to the City

Dunedin's city centre is surrounded by hills, with openings only for the Otago Harbour and Ocean Beach. The suburbs inside these hills or right on their tops are usually called "inner suburbs." Those outside are "outer suburbs." This isn't always about how far away they are, but more about the landscape. Some "outer suburbs" are actually quite close to the city centre!

Here are some of the main inner suburbs, listed clockwise from the north:

Pine Hill, Dalmore, and Liberton

Pine Hill is a part of Mount Cargill, a 660-metre tall volcanic hill that stands over the northern part of Dunedin. Mount Cargill has the city's main TV tower on top. Pine Hill sits between the Water of Leith river to the west and Lindsay Creek to the east. It looks down over North East Valley. The main highway, State Highway 1, goes around the western side of Pine Hill. This suburb is about four kilometres north of the city centre.

Pine Hill also includes the older suburb of Dalmore to the south. Liberton is a housing area built after World War II. Liberton is home to Liberton Christian School, which was Dunedin's first special Christian primary school. The top part of Pine Hill is sometimes called Pine Heights. Dalmore also hosts a fun yearly festival called Feastock.

Dunedin North: Home to Universities and Parks

The northern end of the city centre is known as Dunedin North. It's famous for being home to Dunedin's two main colleges: the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic. Both are located near the lower part of the Water of Leith river. This river flows into the Otago Harbour in Dunedin North.

Close by is one of the city's main parks, Logan Park. This park used to be a lake! It now has Logan Park High School and sports fields like the Caledonian Ground and University Oval. Dunedin's main indoor sports arena, Forsyth Barr Stadium, is also in Dunedin North, right next to Logan Park.

Dunedin North also has one of the city's oldest cemeteries, the Dunedin Northern Cemetery, and the beautiful Dunedin Botanical Gardens. The main highway, State Highway 1, connects to Dunedin's roads at a busy spot called "Gardens Corner," near the Botanical Gardens.

North East Valley and The Gardens

Looking down North East Valley towards Dunedin city.

Lindsay Creek, a small river that flows into the Water of Leith, runs southwest through the long North East Valley. This valley is in the northern part of Dunedin. It's a residential area with one main road and other streets climbing up the steep hills on either side. One of these streets, Baldwin Street, is famous for being the steepest street in the world!

The southern end of the valley is often called The Gardens or The Gardens Corner, because the Dunedin Botanical Gardens are nearby. The Gardens Corner is a busy shopping area and one of Dunedin's busiest road crossings. This is where the main highway (State Highway 1) joins Dunedin's one-way street system. This area also has Dunedin North Intermediate School and several university halls, like Knox College and Salmond College.

Normanby and Mount Mera

Normanby is the very northern end of North East Valley. Here, the city turns into open countryside. The land is very steep because it's at the bottom of Mount Cargill. The slopes of Mount Cargill are covered in thick trees and have many walking tracks. Some of these tracks start at the Bethune's Gully reserve in Normanby. Chingford Park, also in Normanby, is now a sports field and park. It used to be the home of an ancestor of the famous actor Sam Neill. The big house is gone, but the impressive stone stables are still there.

Mount Mera is an area of houses built by the government, located on the north-facing side of the valley, just above Normanby.

Opoho: Views from Signal Hill

Opoho sits on the western side of Signal Hill, looking over North East Valley and the Dunedin Botanic Gardens. It's a residential area with a mix of people, including students, older residents, and many university staff. Above the suburb is the Centennial Lookout, a memorial on top of Signal Hill built in 1940 to celebrate 100 years of New Zealand. From here, you can get amazing views of the city!

Ravensbourne: By the Harbour

View of Ravensbourne from the railway bridge.

The suburb of Ravensbourne is on the southern slopes of Signal Hill, right next to the Otago Harbour. It's one of the older hill suburbs in the western harbour area of Dunedin. It's separated from the city centre by a quarry near Logan Park. Ravensbourne is easy to spot because of the Ravensdown fertiliser factory at the southern end, right by the harbour.

Shiel Hill, Waverley, and Vauxhall

Across the Harbour from Ravensbourne are Shiel Hill, Waverley, and Vauxhall. These three areas form one continuous residential suburb at the western end of the Otago Peninsula. They are built on the side of Shiel Hill, looking out over Andersons Bay and the upper parts of Otago Harbour.

Ocean Grove (Tomahawk)

Ocean Grove, also known as Tomahawk, is on the south coast of the city end of the Otago Peninsula. It's located in and around the valley of the Tomahawk Lagoon. It feels like a separate village because the hill called Lawyers Head blocks the view of Dunedin. Besides the lagoon, its main feature is Tomahawk Beach. During World War II, this area had coastal defences, and you can still find the remains of old lookouts on a hill above the suburb. Ocean Grove is connected by road to Tahuna (to the west) and to the main road along the Otago Peninsula.

Andersons Bay, Tahuna, and Tainui

Andersons Bay is a residential and light industrial area south of the city centre and east of South Dunedin. It stretches along the old shoreline and over land that has been reclaimed from the sea, near the top of the Otago Harbour. Its southernmost point is at the Andersons Bay Inlet, at the foot of part of the Otago Peninsula. A large sports centre, The Edgar Centre, is located near the harbour just north of Andersons Bay Inlet.

Dunedin's main cemetery, Andersons Bay Cemetery, and the golf course of Chisholm Park are in the smaller suburb of Tahuna. Tahuna is to the south, near the coastal point called Lawyers Head. Between Andersons Bay and Tahuna is the small residential suburb of Tainui.

Musselburgh: At the Peninsula's Base

Musselburgh (named after a town in Scotland) is located at the base of the Otago Peninsula. It's at the narrowest part of the land connecting the Peninsula to the mainland, which is about 1,500 metres wide here. Musselburgh is known for its large rocky hills called the Musselburgh Rise, which stand above the flat area of Saint Kilda.

South Dunedin and Kensington

South Dunedin is the city's second most important shopping area. It's located just below a major road junction called Cargill's Corner, about 2,500 metres south of the city centre. Key features of South Dunedin include the railway workshops, which cover a huge area, and Carisbrook, which used to be the city's main sports stadium. Both of these are on the border of South Dunedin and Caversham. At the northeastern edge of the suburb, closer to the city centre, is the small residential area of Kensington.

St Kilda: Beach Life and Sports

The beaches of St Kilda and St Clair, officially called Ocean Beach, stretch along Dunedin's south coast for about 3,500 metres between Lawyers Head and Forbury Head. The suburb of St Kilda was a separate town until 1989. It's a busy residential area on the flat land between the beach and the light industrial areas south of the city centre. At the southern end of St Kilda is Forbury Park, where horse racing (trotting and pacing) takes place.

St Kilda has several pubs, a bowling green, a badminton hall, and an Olympic-sized ice-skating rink. It's also home to the St Kilda Sentinel Brass Band, the Pirates Rugby Club, the Otago Model Engineering Society, the Ocean Beach Railway, the St Kilda Surf Lifesaving Club, and a Hot Rod club.

St Clair and Forbury: Surfing and Castles

St Clair Beach, Dunedin.

About five kilometres southwest of the city centre, St Clair sits on the lower slopes and at the bottom of Forbury Hill. It's one of the city's wealthier suburbs, with many beautiful houses among the trees. Near the top of the hill is one of Dunedin's best golf courses (St Clair Golf Course) and the ruins of Cargill's Castle.

At the bottom of the hill are St Clair Beach, a restaurant and resort complex, and an outdoor heated saltwater swimming pool. The beach's sea wall and walkway were rebuilt in 2004. St Clair Beach is a very popular spot for surfing in the South Island and is home to the St Clair Surf Life Saving Club. A small island called White Island is about three kilometres off the beach. The two single-sex high schools, King's (for boys) and Queen's (for girls), are located where St Clair, St Kilda, and Forbury meet. The smaller suburb of Forbury is north of St Clair, between it and Caversham.

Corstorphine and Kew

Close to the top of Forbury Hill, stretching towards Saint Clair to the south and Concord to the west, is the large suburb of Corstorphine. Many of the houses here were built by the government between the 1930s and 1950s. Lower down the hill to the east, near Caversham and Forbury, is the smaller but more well-off suburb of Kew.

Calton Hill: A Hilltop Community

Calton Hill is a suburb located on a raised area on the southwestern edge of "inner" Dunedin. It's a spur that runs north into the Caversham Valley from Forbury Hill. It was named after Calton Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland, and became an official "Township" in 1910. It's mostly a residential area with only a few shops. Farmland borders its southwestern side, and its neighbours are Caversham, Corstorphine, Concord, and Lookout Point.

Caversham and Lookout Point

Caversham Presbyterian Church.

Caversham is one of Dunedin's older suburbs, located in a valley near the Dunedin Southern Motorway (part of State Highway 1). This motorway is the main way to get into Dunedin from the south. Caversham has a small shopping area, but it's mostly homes. Carisbrook, the city's former main rugby stadium, is at the eastern end of the suburb. This part of Caversham is also dominated by one of Dunedin's largest industrial sites, the Hillside Railway Workshops. At the western end of the suburb, the valley rises steeply to a high point on the motorway called Lookout Point. From here, you can see the outer suburbs of Burnside, Green Island, and Abbotsford.

Mornington, Maryhill, and Balaclava

West of the city centre, you'll find the hill suburb of Mornington, which you can reach by going up High Street. Southwest of Mornington is Maryhill, and Balaclava is a small area to the west of Maryhill. Mornington used to have a cable car that ran from The Exchange, with another line connecting Mornington to Maryhill.

Maryhill got its name from a district in Glasgow, Scotland, because many settlers from that area moved here long ago.

Roslyn and Belleknowes

Looking from the Roslyn bridge, toward Dunedin City.

The suburb of Roslyn sits on top of a hill that is part of the inner ring of hills around Dunedin. You can get excellent views of the inner city from the Roslyn overbridge, which is about 1,500 metres northwest of the city centre and 150 metres above sea level. Several of the city's most well-known schools are close to Roslyn and its northern neighbour, Maori Hill. The southwestern end of Roslyn smoothly blends into Belleknowes.

Maori Hill and Prospect Park

Along with St Clair, Maori Hill is considered one of Dunedin's more exclusive suburbs. Many beautiful houses are located among the trees of the city's Town Belt, which winds around the slopes of the hill that surrounds much of the inner city. Unlike nearby hill suburbs like Roslyn, Maori Hill didn't have a cable car, which might be why it kept its exclusive feel. Prospect Park, a small suburb named after its park, is at the northern end of the ridge that goes through the hill suburbs south to Lookout Point. It looks over the wide valley of the Leith River.

Woodhaugh, Glenleith, and Leith Valley

At the northeastern end of the flat area that makes up the central city, the Water of Leith river forms a valley between Maori Hill and Pine Hill. In its lower parts, this valley is wide and is dominated by Woodhaugh Gardens. Much of Dunedin's water comes from reservoirs in the upper parts of the Leith Valley. These include Ross Creek Reservoir, which is the oldest reservoir still used in New Zealand. Many popular walking tracks go through the bush around this reservoir.

Woodhaugh Gardens used to be a quarry and is one of the city's oldest parks, dating back to 1895. The area around the park is called Woodhaugh and is a popular place for students to live, as it's only a 15-minute walk to the university and the city centre. Beyond Woodhaugh, the valley gets narrower and becomes Glenleith, a residential suburb that follows the river. Past Glenleith, the land is rough, undeveloped hill country with small farms. This whole area, including Glenleith and Woodhaugh, is often just called Leith Valley.

Outer Suburbs: Beyond the Inner Ring

Many of Dunedin's outer suburbs used to be separate towns until the local government was reorganised in the late 1980s. Some people in Dunedin still think of them as separate towns! Here are some of the main outer suburbs, listed clockwise from the north:

Port Chalmers

Maia and Burkes

Beyond Ravensbourne, on the main road to the mouth of the Otago Harbour and the town of Port Chalmers, are two small settlements: Maia and Burkes (or Burkes Bay). Maia's name might sound like it's from Māori, but it was actually named by a former mayor after Maia, a character from Greek mythology and one of the daughters of the Titan Atlas.

Saint Leonards

On the west bank of the Otago Harbour, past Burkes, and halfway between Ravensbourne and Port Chalmers, is the quiet residential area of St Leonards. It was named by an early settler, David Carey (who also has Careys Bay named after him), after St Leonards-on-Sea in England, where his wife was born.

Roseneath

Sawyers Bay

Portobello

Broad Bay

Macandrew Bay

Challis and The Cove

Waldronville

Concord and Burnside

Green Island

Abbotsford

Fairfield

Mosgiel

Wingatui

Kaikorai Valley, Kenmure, Kaikorai, and Bradford

Brockville

Halfway Bush

Wakari and Helensburgh