City of Dunedin, during the first two parliaments called Town of Dunedin, was a parliamentary

electorate Electorate may refer to: * The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate'' * The dominion of a Prince-elector in the Holy Roman Empire until 1806 * An electoral district An ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

, New Zealand. It was one of the original electorates created in 1853 and existed, with two breaks, until 1905. The first break, from 1862 to 1866, was caused by an influx of people through the

Otago Gold Rush The Otago Gold Rush (often called the Central Otago Gold Rush) was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand. This was the country's biggest gold strike, and led to a rapid influx of foreign miners to the area – ...

, when many new electorates were formed in Otago. The second break occurred from 1881 to 1890. It was the only New Zealand electorate that was created as a single-member, two-member and three member electorate.

Population centres

In December 1887, the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

voted to reduce its membership from general electorates from 91 to 70. The 1890 electoral redistribution used the same 1886 census data used for the 1887 electoral redistribution. In addition, three-member electorates were introduced in the four main centres. This resulted in a major restructuring of electorates, and Dunedin was one of eight electorates to be re-created for the 1890 election.

History

From 1853 to 1860, the electorate was known as the ''Town of Dunedin''. From 1860 to 1905, it was the ''City of Dunedin''.

James Macandrew James Macandrew (1819(?) – 25 February 1887) was a New Zealand ship-owner and politician. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1853 to 1887 and as the last Superintendent of Otago Province. Early life Macandrew was born in Scotland, prob ...

was the first elected member. He resigned on 2 November 1858 and was re-elected in a 14 January 1859 by-election. Elections for the first two-member electorate were held on 24 December 1860. Three people contested the poll, with Thomas Dick and

Edward McGlashan Edward McGlashan (12 December 1817 – 31 July 1889) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. McGlashan was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1817. His father's family were publishers to the University of Edinburgh. ...

returned. In 1863, the electorate was abolished and replaced with

Dunedin and Suburbs North Dunedin and Suburbs North was a parliamentary electorate in the city of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand from 1863 to 1866. It was a multi-member electorate. History During the second session (from 7 July to 15 September 1862) of the 3rd Parliam ...

and

Dunedin and Suburbs South Dunedin and Suburbs South was a parliamentary electorate in the city of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand from 1862 to 1866. From 1863 it was a multi-member electorate. History During the second session (from 7 July to 15 September 1862) of the 3 ...

. It was recreated for the 1866 general election.

James Gordon Stuart Grant James Gordon Stuart Grant ( 1834 – 27 February 1902) was a New Zealand demagogue, journalist and eccentric. He was born in Glenlivet, Banffshire, Scotland in circa 1834. He unsuccessfully stood in the 1859 Town of Dunedin by-election again ...

was a local eccentric and a frequent candidate from 1867 to 1884. The 1875 election was contested by eight candidates. The three candidates on the anti-centralist ticket,

William Larnach William James Mudie Larnach (27 January 1833 – 12 October 1898) was a New Zealand businessman and politician. He is known for his extravagant incomplete house near Dunedin called Larnach's castle by his opponents and now known as Larnach C ...

and

Robert Stout Sir Robert Stout (28 September 1844 – 19 July 1930) was a New Zealand politician who was the 13th premier of New Zealand on two occasions in the late 19th century, and later Chief Justice of New Zealand. He was the only person to hold both ...

, were all successful. They beat William Reynolds, James Macassey

Henry Fish Henry Smith Fish (15 July 1838 – 23 September 1897) was a 19th-century New Zealand politician. For a time, he was a member of the Liberal Party. He was Mayor of Dunedin for a total of six years. Smith is remembered as one of the staunch opp ...

, James Grant and John Armstrong. Larnach resigned on 31 May 1878. The 1893 election was contested by eight candidates, who contested three available positions. William Hutchison and

David Pinkerton David Pinkerton (26 September 1836 – 23 June 1906) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for Dunedin City, in the South Island. Early life Born in Kirknewton, West Lothian, Scotland. He married Margaret Fairley on 1 December 1857 with whom ...

were incumbents who were successful, William Earnshaw was the third successful candidate (he had represented the Peninsula electorate in the previous Parliament), the previous representative Henry Fish came fourth,

Hugh Gourley Hugh Gourley (1825 – 16 December 1906) was a New Zealand politician born in Ireland. He was Mayor of Dunedin on two occasions and then appointed to the New Zealand Legislative Council for one seven-year term. Early life Gourley was born in ...

was fifth, with other unsuccessful candidates being

James Gore James Gore (1834 – 23 July 1917) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from the Otago region of New Zealand, and Mayor of Dunedin. He represented the Dunedin South electorate from to 1887, when he was defeated. He was Mayor of Dunedin ...

, Charles Haynes, and David Nicol. Dunedin was recreated for the 2020 general election as a single-member electorate, as

no longer has a population large enough to support two electorates. The electorate, however, does not include

South Dunedin South Dunedin is a major inner city suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located, as its name suggests, to the south of the city centre, on part of a large plain known locally simply as "The Flat". The suburb is a mix of industrial ...

, as that is now part of a recreated electorate.

Members of Parliament

The multi-member electorate was represented by 23

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Single-member electorate

From 1853 to 1860, ''Town of Dunedin'' was a single-member electorate.

Two-member electorate

From 1860 to 1863, and 1866 to 1875 ''City of Dunedin'' was a two-member electorate. Under the Representation Act 1862 the City of Dunedin electorate was abolished, with two new electorates,

and

replacing it, with

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

being held on 28 March to 6 April 1863 respectively. All electorates before and after changes returned two members, with each of the previous incumbents in City of Dunedin being assigned an incumbency in one of the Dunedin Suburbs electorates, although Thomas Dick resigned before taking up his entitlement in Dunedin and Suburbs North, forcing the .

Three-member electorate

From 1875 to 1881, and 1890 to 1905 ''City of Dunedin'' was a three-member electorate. Key:

Election results

1899 election

1897 by-election

1896 election

Table footnotes:

1893 election

1890 election

1875 election

1879 City of Dunedin by-election

1878 City of Dunedin by-election

1874 City of Dunedin by-election

1869 City of Dunedin by-election

1867 City of Dunedin by-election

May 1862 City of Dunedin by-election

1860 election

1859 by-election

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunedin City of Historical electorates of New Zealand Politics of Dunedin 1853 establishments in New Zealand 1905 disestablishments in New Zealand 1890 establishments in New Zealand 1881 disestablishments in New Zealand