Council asked for support to move statue

The statue of a prominent Dunedin figure  could have its view of a brothel swapped for the University of Otago clocktower.

At a public forum this week the Dunedin City Council was asked  for its support to move the  statue of  Dr Donald Stuart from its place in  Queens Gardens to an undecided location near the University of Otago clocktower.

At present the statue is  overlooked by the La Maison House of Pleasure brothel.

Stuart Residence Halls Council chairwoman  Margot Skinner said a proposal to shift the statue to the university campus had been endorsed by the university and heard by Mayor Dave Cull.

The proposal to shift the statue of the former Knox Church minister and university  chancellor was first raised in 2010, Dr Skinner said.

Dr Stuart was the minister of Knox Church for 33 years and led  the congregation until he died in 1894.

On the day of his funeral, about 6000 people followed his hearse and 20,000 gathered to farewell him.

If approved, the statue would be moved "to a more salubrious location" in a procession to coincide with the University of Otago’s 150th anniversary and the 125th anniversary of Dr Stuart’s death, Dr Skinner said.

Moving the statue could  be the council’s contribution to the university’s celebrations, she said.

The proposal received little response from councillors.

 

Donald Stuart

• Born in Perthshire, Scotland in 1819.

• Arrived in Dunedin on  Bosworth in 1860.

• Minister of Knox Church from 1860 until his death in 1894.

• Was vice-chancellor and chancellor of the University of Otago.

• Was renowned for his devotion to the poor and often visited the poor to give blankets and food.

• When he died all shops in Dunedin closed for the day.

• Church registers suggest he married more people than any other celebrant in 19th-century New Zealand.

• Buried in the Southern Cemetery.