A short history of the Otago hospital that was initially known for its “enlightened” attitude to mental health, and later became notorious for mistreatment and abuse. Content warning: contains historical ableist language and descriptions of inhumane medical treatment Around 30 kilometres north of Dunedin lie the remains of a once thriving psychiatric hospital. This is Seacliff, … Read more
Get wild, get cultured, get fed and then get to bed: the essential guide to a perfect few days in the southern city. There’s one thing that preoccupies the staff of The Spinoff almost as much as arranging popular food items into arbitrary lists, and that’s Dunedin. A quite remarkable number of us were either … Read more
Good morning and welcome to the first regular season Bulletin of 2021. In today’s edition: High alert as woman in Northland tests Covid-positive, house price inflation races ahead unabated, and schools grappling with new year after last year’s disruptions. Ministers and health officials were keeping their options open yesterday afternoon after a new case in … Read more
In a historic corner of Dunedin, startup culture is thriving. Catherine McGregor visited the city’s Warehouse Precinct to meet the people driving the movement. When Jason and Kate Lindsey bought the four storey building now known as Petridish, it was an absolute wreck. Once home to a thriving hat and textiles factory – a 1919 … Read more
It’s as true now as it ever has been: nowhere else offers an education experience like that of Dunedin. But rather than resting on their laurels, the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic have plans to make the city an even more inspiring place for students. From high in the summit beyond Pine Hill on … Read more
Thousands of former students and their families have now been affected by the last-minute postponement of Otago University and Polytechnic graduation ceremonies due to a security threat earlier this week. Among those set to graduate, the news was met with disappointment and disbelief, reports Sinead Gill – and a little relief. For an event that … Read more
Today Owen Marshall, Grahame Sydney and Brian Turner release a big hardback book called Landmarks. A braiding of essays, paintings and poems, it’s a companion title to the trio’s Timeless Land, published in 1995. It’s a tribute to place, but it’s also about low-key, enduring friendship, as Marshall explains. In her emails to us, Harriet … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Should the government back Chris Liddell for OECD, testing and app scan numbers jump over long weekend, and an update on talks between Labour and Greens. The government’s decision on whether to back New Zealander Chris Liddell for the top job at the OECD looks … Read more
Some election debates transcend simply putting candidates in front of potential voters, and become must-attend events in and of themselves. Alex Braae went along to the Opoho Presbyterian Church in Dunedin to see how one group does it. Most political junkies have probably heard of the Aro Valley Meet the Candidates debates in Wellington. Politicians … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Alert levels given another short extension, National candidate under fire over business record, and possible evidence of alien life discovered on Venus. In a week, the country outside of Auckland will move out of level two and into level one. As our live updates reported, that will be contingent … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Sarah Ramsay, CEO of United Machinists. Not that long ago in the scheme of things New Zealand did … Read more
Nedal Ebrahim never thought he would be forced to flee his home and start all over again. But now, as a former refugee, supermarket assistant, passionate cook and Covid-19 essential worker, Nedal has become an important and valued member of his new community. Taste Nature in Dunedin is a favourite stop for organic and sustainable … Read more
From 2012 to 2013, a small bunch of enterprising Dunedin promoters opened a new nightlife frontier in the city: club nights for teens, held in adult bars with minimal adult supervision. But should 13-year-olds really be clubbing? Caroline Moratti reports. Underage clubs have a long and questionable history, as anyone who remembers overpriced glow sticks … Read more
In a photo essay by Justin Spiers and interview with Spinoff art editor Mark Amery, artist John Ward Knox introduces his Karitāne home and garden, and various projects – bees, pond, a portrait on silk of the prime minister from a live sitting. Ward Knox also answers one of this year’s biggest mysteries: the origins … Read more
The mothballing of Dunedin Railways represents a huge loss for the city where New Zealand’s rail preservation story started. Now, the community is asking for a chance to save their train, and with it the crown jewel in Dunedin’s tourist industry. The Taieri Gorge Railway has been and meant many things. The railway line is … Read more
Dead People I Have Known, a memoir, just won the General Non-Fiction category at the New Zealand Book Awards. The judges were Hocken librarian and documentary and cultural heritage collections advisor Sharon Dell, bookseller and reviewer Stella Chrysostomou and journalist Guyon Espiner. Their comments, per the press release: “From the first page, Shayne Carter … Read more
Breton Dukes’ latest short story collection is a thrilling, surgical examination into the everyday tragedies of domestic New Zealand. The New Zealand man is a topic that is well examined by pretty much every art form we’ve ever had. Hell, our most famous stereotype is “the man alone”. The loner (usually a straight, white loner) … Read more
In an effort to contain the spread of Covid-19, New Zealand has officially gone into lockdown. With people instructed to stay at home, streets, parks, playgrounds and roads have rarely been so empty. Here, we present a selection of the best images (Note: All photos were taken while practising physical distancing) For the must-know rules … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Dunedin school to close and clean after positive Covid-19 test, massive economic rescue package announced, and tourists who didn’t self-isolate facing deportation. There are now 12 confirmed Covid-19 patients in New Zealand. The latest confirmed case is a student at Logan Park High School in Dunedin, … Read more
Sumptuous exhibition Sapphic Fragments at the Hocken Gallery, Dunedin is the result of painter Imogen Taylor’s year as Frances Hodgkins Fellow at the University of Otago, bringing her work on canvas and walls into conversation with Hodgkins, Sappho and other women artists to explore pleasure in abstraction. It reminds us, writes Bridie Lonie, that today’s … Read more
Born and bred in Dunedin, Vanessa Worm is now known in nightclubs the world over. She talked to Josie Adams about how being punk got her signed to one of the world’s best club music labels. Vanessa Worm – real name Tessa – is calling from her bed in Melbourne. Stage names, sleep-ins, jet-setting; she’s … Read more
The first issue of the Otago student magazine for 2020 had barely hit campus before it was making headlines in the wider media. The cover was censored by Facebook, and a furious editorial denounced party politics, promising to give them a miss. Josie Adams speaks to editor Sinead Gill about a sparkling, sweary start to … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Impacts of coronavirus in focus, claims of NZDF coverup of indecent assaults, and will NZ and Europe get a trade deal this year? I realise that the lead story in Friday’s Bulletin was also about the coronavirus, so apologies if you feel there is too … Read more
A government announcement of more borrowing to fund infrastructure projects got us thinking – where should Grant Robertson splash the cash first? Cautious incrementalism on infrastructure has gone on long enough – it’s time to go shopping for some brand new toys. That was the message finance minister Grant Robertson gave the Labour Party conference … Read more
Lessons in life and art from Samoan New Zealand artist Yuki Kihara, Aotearoa’s representative at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2021. When Yuki Kihara was announced as New Zealand’s next representative at the Venice Biennale, it marked a number of firsts. Not only will Kihara be the first person of Pacific descent to represent New … Read more
A new poem by Dunedin-born poet Holly Fletcher. I’ve buried 13 grandmothers and 21 mothers Am I occupied? Last Wednesday there was this huge train full of people running. How they navigated was beyond me. There are so many make-believe sweets that I am making sick in the air at the thought of … Read more
Otago-grown agricultural technology company Techion has cornered an international market. Its founder, Greg Mirams, explained how the internet of things and fast fibre broadband has transformed the way he does business. In a Dunedin bedroom in 1992, Greg Mirams invented Techion’s founding product: FEKPAKG2. It was developed to help local farmers test the effectiveness of … Read more
Dunedin’s new mayor Aaron Hawkins is the first official Green Party mayor in NZ and, arguably, the first to represent the city’s student population as much as its older residents. Josie Adams, who guessed he would win, asked him some questions about it. The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The Spinoff … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Analysis that hits the mark after a big weekend of local elections, new party poll released, and Dunedinites turn out to clean up in honour of killed student. By now, you probably know whether or not you have a new local representative. If not, you might … Read more