Balaclava

I don’t know about you, but first thing that springs to my mind when I hear ‘balaclava’ is a sketchy character wearing black and holding a crowbar- not exactly the thing you’d associate with a family-friendly suburb in west Dunedin! According to James Beattie in his book Place Names of Otago, this suburb was named after the battle of Balaclava fought during the Crimean War in 1854.

Murdering Beach / Whareakeake

If there was ever a name that gave you second thoughts about visiting… this must be it. But don’t be put off. Whareakeake, also known as Murdering Beach/Murderer’s Bay is a pleasant stretch of pearly sand sandwiched between imposing rocky cliffs and the South Pacific. It sits between Aramoana and Blueskin Bay in northeast Dunedin.

The name of Murdering Beach originates from a grisly conflict between Pākehā sailors and Māori in 1817. Details of the conflict vary, but are generally underlined by the atmosphere of distrust between Māori and European settlers during the early 1800s. In one version of events, a settler called William Tuker, stole a preserved head from the Māori people of Riverton in 1811. He was never bought to account and escaped on a sailing ship. News of the theft spread among Māori who were incited to extract utu (retribution). In 1817, Tuker and several other sailors landed on Whareakeake from a ship called the Sophia. A fight broke out between them and local Māori. Tuker and two other sailors were killed. The crew of the Sophia captured several Māori warriors and kept them onboard the Sophia, but the fate of these captives remains a mystery.

Lawyers Head

Lawyer’s Head is a rocky headland jutting into the Pacific Ocean that can be seen from in Saint Clair. Apparently (if you squint your eyes), the 34m cliff face looks like the face profile of a lawyer wearing a legal wig, hence the name.

The Pineapple Track

I was in my first year of university when I heard about the Pineapple Track. Pineapples? Really? Nobody seemed to know the inspiration behind its name. I was itching with curiosity, and it wasn’t long before I hiked up this gravel path which climbs into Flagstaff myself. Sadly, I didn’t spot any pineapples.

Apparently, a Dunedin green-grocer led expeditions to the top of Flagstaff during the 1920s. At the top of the track, he offered them a sweet snack: tinned pineapples! People began to leave tins of pineapples hanging on fences and trees, although this tradition largely seems to have been forgotten. However, the name has lived on.

Māori Hill

Māori hill is one of the more affluent suburbs of Dunedin and peers down upon the disheveled student quarter with a sort of haughty superiority. However, its name draws on more dishonourable chapters of New Zealand history. In the 1860s, the Māori people of Parihaka, a Taranaki settlement in the North Island, engaged in a peaceful protest against the colonial confiscation of their land. Many protesters were imprisoned without trial and transported to Dunedin where they were forced into manual labour, building much of the city’s infrastructure including, you guessed it- Māori Hill. Today you can find a memorial for the Taranaki Māori slaves in the cemetery at Opoho, North Dunedin.

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