Skip to main content

Story: Culture and recreation in the city

Southern Recreation Ground, Dunedin, 1864

Image
Southern Recreation Ground, Dunedin, 1864

George O'Brien's watercolour shows the oval at Dunedin's Southern Recreation Ground during a cricketing festival in January 1864. Teams from Otago, Southland and Canterbury played each other and George Parr's England team. Cricket was one of the earliest organised recreations in New Zealand cities.

Using this item

Toitū Otago Settlers Museum

Reference: 1988/78/1

by George O'Brien

Permission of Toitū Otago Settlers Museum must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Jock Phillips, Culture and recreation in the city – Sport in colonial cities, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/25676/southern-recreation-ground-dunedin-1864 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Jock Phillips, published 26 February 2010.