Lighthouse on Cumberland Street

flatnames — Tue, 02 May 2017 11:26:19 +0000

Dept. of Correct. Halfway House on Cumberland Street

flatnames — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 02:47:16 +0000

DCC Archives, City Engineer’s Cumberland Street/ Castle Street Deviation Photos

" data-medium-file="/1833daf28b5283f1a3d468bc8edcdf40/2014/09/575-cumberland-hobbit042.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="/1833daf28b5283f1a3d468bc8edcdf40/2014/09/575-cumberland-hobbit042.jpg?w=830" class="wp-image-1194 size-large" src="/1833daf28b5283f1a3d468bc8edcdf40/2014/09/575-cumberland-hobbit042.jpg?w=830Hobbit flat. Built 1901, demolished 1970s. DCC Archives, City Engineers Album Cumberland/Castle Street Deviation, 1973

575 Cumberland Street doesnt exist anymore, it was demolished in the 1970s when Castle and Cumberland Streets were deviated to their current course. Below you can see photos of a couple of hand drawn maps. The first, a detail, shows 575 Cumberland highlighted in green. Compare the larger hand drawn map (note the green on this larger map is NOT 575!) with the image from the DCC Webmap. You should be able to see the site of 575 Cumberland Street two sections south of 58 Albany Street.

Many thanks to the DCC Archives for providing these images.

The arrival of students at the beginning of each academic year usually brings a frisson of excitement to the city. At one time a toga parade was established, as OUSA general manager Stephen Alexander (2009) stated in the Otago Daily Times, so the community and students could meet and greet each other in a colourful way. This intersection of town and gown met a sticky, smelly, violent end in early 2009.

The Debacle (2013)

" data-medium-file="/1833daf28b5283f1a3d468bc8edcdf40/2014/05/img_4842.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="/1833daf28b5283f1a3d468bc8edcdf40/2014/05/img_4842.jpg?w=768" class="size-medium wp-image-914" src="/1833daf28b5283f1a3d468bc8edcdf40/2014/05/img_4842.jpg?w=225s head hangs a washing line, debecked with y-fronts, a plate, fork and knife. The word Debacle is emblazoned above in what can only be described as a colour and texture reminiscent of fecal matter. Its the kind of scene some may imagine as a typical student flat. Interestingly, the the story behind the name is quite different.

The OUSA Toga Parade down George Street on the 24th February of that year deteriorated into bedlam which resulted in injury to people and property. The Otago Daily Times (25 February 2009) reported:

As the large mass of students moved into George St, hundreds of eggs, bottles, rubbish, and buckets full of vomit and faeces, were thrown from first-floor verandas and alleyways, as well as at shop frontages.

A number of students were disciplined for their involvement. OUSAs decision to cease future parades was greeted with approval by many people, including retailers and Dunedin police emergency response commander Inspector Alastair Dickie, who said, after the shamozzle of this years parade, we dont want a repeat . An independent report of the event had been undertaken by the former University Proctor, Ron Chambers.

Photos published by the Otago Daily Times
Video from the Otago Daily Times (contains explicit language)
Photos by Varun Thirayan

The end of the day saw some students involved in cleaning up shop frontages, and the end year saw donations from students to the City Council which was passed to Keep Dunedin Beautiful. Mayor Peter Chin was reported as saying, I think it is an appropriate gesture of appeasement in terms of all the issues that have arisen.

Please listen up and listen well, freshers: this disgusting display is not tradition here at Otago. The eggs, yes, and the flour bombs, sure. But before you start cultivating your own rancid buckets o crap for next years batch, remember this: those idiot bystanders were trying to hurt you.

Dunedin City Councillor Dave Cull and Otago University Students Association president Edwin Darlow were interviewed by Mark Sainsbury the following day on new programme, Close Up, and the shock of the event is clearly still with them.

Teige OSullivan and Ben Thomson were first years in 2009 and experienced the parade first hand, on the Dunedin Flat Names Facebook page, Ben said, [We] got pelted with eggs, fruit, human feces and everything in between. An other first year student commented in the Otago Daily Times,As one of those first year students who was a participant in this event I was appalled by how violent this annual event was. During this event I felt like I was being herded like cattle while the other students hurled bottles and things at us.

In 2010 Teige and Ben took on the lease of Cumberland Street flat with 7 other male students. They renamed it The Debacle, as Teige said, to represent the 9 boys that now live in it and the activities which take place within the flat. [The] name originated from this video from a[n] American news report on the toga parades last year.

About 5 seconds in to the video you can clearly hear the reporter, Ed Donahue (Associated Press), describe the parade as a debacle.

Video source: The Associated Press (25.02.2009).

View this post on Instagram

10am start to Saint Patricks Day celebrations by#otagouniversity#students #dunedinnz#saintpatricksday#saintpatricksday2014#kiwipics #party#goodtimes #cheers #beer#student#collegelife#otagouni#studentlife#fun #funny#flatting#street#streetkiwi#gigatowndunedin #jj_newzealand#au_nz_hotshotz#streetview#rsa_streetview#culture#streetphotography#dunedinstreetkiwi

A post shared by Victoria (@streetkiwi) on Mar 17, 2014 at 1:53am PDT

La Scala#flatnames

flatnames — Fri, 27 Dec 2013 22:48:43 +0000

The origin of The Debacle

flatnames — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 05:15:20 +0000

The Debacle on Cumberland Street (2010) took its name from a description of the destructive toga parade of 2009 by Ed Donahue (AP). Video the Associated Press (25.02.2009).

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)

Smersh v smersh

flatnames — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 23:15:32 +0000

Check out the blog post and fab book cover for Smersh by Nicola Sinevirsky. Smersh was the name of a flat on Cumberland Street near the current site of Landcare Research, in 1960s.

http://jeremyduns.blogspot.com/2010/05/smersh-v-smersh.html

Mouse House

flatnames — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 23:50:51 +0000

Mouse House, my first flat. 888 Cumberland Street, Dunedin. It was 1991.

Video of the Dunedin student area

flatnames — Sun, 02 May 2010 23:25:57 +0000

A few named flats feature in this video by Otago University (2010): Moe’s, Bedlam Estate, Beaver Lodge, and the Pink Pussy.