Poet honoured with plaque

A crowd gathered at the Robbie Burns statue to celebrate the unveiling of the plaque. Photos: Peter McIntosh

A late New Zealand poet laureate would have been honoured to be paved into Dunedin’s history, a city he considered his physical and emotional home, his wife says.

Sir Vincent O’Sullivan has received a plaque in the Dunedin Writers Walk which was unveiled at a small ceremony outside the Robbie Burns Statue in the Octagon yesterday.

Sir Vincent spent the last 13 years of his life in Dunedin before dying in 2024.

Sir Vincent’s new plaque on the Writer’s Walk.

He told the Otago Daily Times in 2015 it was the place he preferred to be and could not imagine leaving.

His wife, Helen, Lady O’Sullivan, said references to the city began appearing more frequently in his poems and stories the longer he lived there.

He lived in Tainui after first moving and later settled in Port Chalmers, a place he loved, Lady O’Sullivan said.

Former New Zealand poet laureate Sir Vincent O’Sullivan’s wife Helen, Lady O’Sullivan, holds a photo of him after a plaque was unveiled making him a member of the Writers Walk in Dunedin yesterday.

"He hated pretentiousness and insincerity as much as he loved mixing with real people, and he found those in abundance in Dunedin."

Lady O’Sullivan said having the plaque unveiled in the Writers Walk would have meant a lot to her husband because it meant he could officially call Dunedin home.

mark.john@odt.co.nz