1955: Dunedin Inclined to Vanity

July 17, 2019

By AHNZ

Captain William Baldwin died at the end of this month, 30 July 1917. It is for he that the world’s second steepest residential street is named.

A career Statetrepreneur, he dabbled with newspapers and law and public transport and gold. The newspaper, Otago Guardian, he probably set up to disrupt the locals that they may buy him out; Because that’s what happened. Baldwin was a Member of the House of Representatives and got a plumb political job when The State started up a life insurance empire. Loving the Crown was in his blood, being immigrant from Northern Ireland and Anglican and a military man. Exactly the sort that the Dunedinites set up Dunedin in order to get away from.

Dunedin Buggered by Baldwin

The Free Church of Scotland was established to get away from state control. They were sick of being told what to do by the British. Founding Dunedin was part of that plan but it went to bits when it turned out they were on the edge of a gold field. Hard to be self-flagellating, puritanical, anguished and dour when there are goldmines pumping wealth and booze and girls and song and luxury in your face! According to his biography, Baldwin was right there beside Gabriel Read when his find started the Gold Rush in 1861.

The Celtic Puritan town was well inconvenienced. As a consolation, they did become wealthy and were able to build great infrastructure. The spiritual project was substituted for a temporal one. Still, the Dunedinites tried hard to be insufferable puritans. They didn’t even allow themselves to sing hymns and use a church organ for music until about 1901; That would have been way too much fun.¹  

Dunedin Inclined to Vanity

It’s important to remember that piety and goodness was expressed through suffering and misery for these Caladonian kill-joys. Personal pride and joy as we know it today had to be squeezed out.

Unhappiness was the sign of piousness well into New Zealand’s colonial history until one day we reached a tipping point.- 1870: The Truth about Smiling

During their preoccupation with avoiding ego-investment in their own virtue and individuality, least they commit the sin of pride, it landed somewhere else. Robbie Burns’ repressed flock let some of their frustrated pride land upon the very topography of the land. They began to ego-invest in having the steepest streets! Steepest residential street, steepest cable-car line; Silly qualifications to navigate the Double Think of being proud without being proud.

Maryhill Extention Cable Car

Dunedin’s Maryhill extention cable car shut down forever in on 29 October 1955 after 70 years of service. To that point, it was touted as the steepest on the planet.

Ref. AHNZ on Facebook

Baldwin Street Ego-Investment

On the other side of town, Baldwin Street was touted as the steepest residential street on the planet. This came to an end on 15 July 2019 when the Guinness Book of Records dropped the axe. Identity Protective Cognition at work: Citizens of Dunedin try to substitute the mathematics of geometry with the vanity of parochialism.

“Because this street is better”
“We claim that”
“It will affect Dunedin’s status”- ref. Is Dunedin’s Baldwin Street still the world’s steepest?; TVNZ; AHNZ

Dunedinites’ vanity has long been invested in such topographical elitism. In laying out the streets of the town they prided themselves on straight lines that ignored the lay of the land and cut right through it; Trumph of piety over materialism! That’s how these streets came to be so punishing. When you risk your pride on something other than virtue, on something you can take personal responsibility for, what happens when fate takes that away?

Things that Make You Go Hmmmm…

Only 9 months before the new ‘record’ the DCC was trying to change access to this free tourist feature…

Residents of the world’s steepest street have rejected a series of changes aimed at improving safety around the popular tourist spot.- Dunedin City Council proposal riles residents of world’s steepest street

The Health and Safety Political Correctness was thwarted by the community of 150 years standing. Next thing you know, Baldwin Street’s prominence is discovered to be a simple nullity. No tax to be collected, no wages to be garnished by allowing this attraction to continue. Could it be a coincidence?

—

1 Contra the Europeans who, in a Christmas emergency, allowed themselves a guitar in church; Ref. 1818: 200 Years Ago: The first performance of Silent Night

Image ref. Baldwin; Electric Scotland

Image ref. David Tennant as Knox, Founding Father of Puritanical Scotishness; Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

Image ref. Ever notice how miserable Scottish historian Neil Oliver always looks?

Image ref. Gwynn Headley in Wales, Newshub: “So I wrote to the Guinness book of records…”

Ref. Maryhill Cable Car; ODT (they’re touchy about sharing images but permit Facebook shares so I put it there)

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