Rainy and blustery day in Dunedin, the “Scottish” capital of New Zealand. Perhaps the most renown and ornate building in the city is the railway station (now used only by a scenic railway company and kiwi freight). The capitalist magnates of the Victorian era did not cut corners or spare expense when it came to decoration, both externally through the use of contrasting stone and internally with beautiful majollica tile work.
The “Octagon” comprises the heart of the city with the cathedral, city hall and statue of Robert Burns with a collection of writers brass plaques arrayed around the sidewalk.
There are many beautiful buildings from the Victorian era and later including Art Deco and modern.
Lastly, let us not forget the chocolate maker so beloved of the British: Cadbury. Since the absorption of Cadbury into the Nestle “empire”, these iconic images are the relics of a once proud Quaker enterprise begun in the “utopian” community of Bourneville in England. Some of these early industrialists took care of their employees (often single young women from the rural areas), providing housing, living wages, social and religious needs, and security for as long as they chose.
