Dunedin, city in New Zealand, on southeastern South Island, on Otago Harbour, near the Pacific Ocean. The city is a rail center. Industry is chiefly the manufacture of woolen goods. Gold mining, sheep and cattle raising, and the processing of dairy products are the principal occupations in the surrounding region. Most of these commodities are exported; coal, timber, and manufactured goods are leading imports. Dunedin is the seat of the University of Otago (1869), containing faculties of arts and music, law, medicine, and theology, and of Otago Polytechnic (1966). The city was founded in 1848 on a site selected because of its fine harbor. Dunedin enjoyed its major growth after 1861, when the discovery of gold in the area attracted thousands of settlers from Australia. Population (1998 estimate) 112,400.
