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Story: Sewage, water and waste

Swampy Dunedin

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Swampy Dunedin

To reach the Otago Peninsula settlers had to walk along Old Andersons Bay Road, shown here in 1864. These mudflats were the outlet for many of Dunedin’s drains in the 1860s. Rubbish, rotting fish and stable manure was also dumped there, adding to the stench.

Using this item

Hocken Collections, University of Otago

Reference: SO5-136A

by A. Hamilton

Permission of the Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena, University of Otago, must be obtained before any re-use of this image. Further information may be obtained from the Library through its website.

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How to cite this page

Christine Dann, Sewage, water and waste – Māori and colonial settlements, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/24421/swampy-dunedin (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Christine Dann, published 12 April 2010.

Comments

Menehune Water
24 March 2012
I bet not too many people went for a romantic walk along that road eh?