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Story: Tertiary education

University buildings: Clocktower, University of Otago, 1878

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University buildings: Clocktower, University of Otago, 1878

The University of Otago – New Zealand’s first university – was founded in 1869 and opened for teaching in 1871. The university was housed in a building in Dunedin’s Princes Street until 1878, when the purpose-built Clocktower building was completed. The Clocktower remained Otago’s most well-known building in the 2000s and was used in university publicity material.

Using this item

Hocken Collections, University of Otago

Reference: SO9-379i

by Burton Brothers

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

Kerryn Pollock, Tertiary education – Universities before 1990, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/34409/university-buildings-clocktower-university-of-otago-1878 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Kerryn Pollock, published 29 May 2012.