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Otepuni Gardens

View of the garden beds at Otepuni Gardens with the Basilica in the background.

The Otepuni Gardens are located near Invercargill's Central Business District. Originally the main gardens of Invercargill, this park offers a quiet refuge from the busy City streets.

A path beside a straight river bank with trees in the bakground.

Otepuni Walkway

Part of the Otepuni Walkway winds along Otepuni Gardens.

This well-formed track follows the Otepuni Creek between Clyde Street and Rockdale Road. Most of this walkway follows the top of the floodbank, giving an elevated view of the surrounding city and neighbouring reserves.

The other part of Otepuni Walkway continues through Turnbull Thomson Park.

  • Band Rotunda with power available. See our parks booking page for more information.
  • Parking around the perimeter of the park.
  • Bowls area
  • Play equipment is located in Block I of the Gardens along Forth Street.

Please note, a liquor ban is in place at Otepuni Gardens.

Otepuni Gardens in about 1940. Image: Invercargill City Libraries and Archives, Ref: A0291 S27760001_b

Along with Queens Park and the rest of the Town Belt, the Otepuni Gardens were set aside as a public reserve when John Turnbull Thomson laid out the town of Invercargill in 1856.

With the Taurakitewaru forest ending in the vicinity of Tay Street and the Seaward Bush not commencing until Tweed Street, the course of the Otepuni was relatively open country.

There has been one known midden/oven and one possible find spot of adze recorded with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. The known site on the remnant of an old sand dune, in the south-western corner of Block II, indicates that it was used as a camping or stopping place.

The gardens as they appeared in about 1910. Image: Invercargill City Council Archives A0637_S27880011.

In the early years the Otepuni Gardens were simply known as the “Town Gardens” and the stream was referred to as the “Puni”, or occasionally misspelt “Puny”. On one early map (1856) it was spelt as “Puoni”.

Originally, the Otepuni Stream meandered quite widely from its present artificial course. It is recorded that, after his appointment as Borough Gardener, one of Thomas Waugh’s first jobs was to commence straightening the remaining portion of the Otepuni.

In 1873, James Cooper successfully tendered for the supply of the trees and shrubs for Blocks I and II. In the same year, a letter was written to the Superintendent of the Province of Canterbury asking for a supply of trees or cuttings for the gardens.

Otepuni Stream and gardens in the early 1900s. Image: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 35-R0607.

The trees along Forth Street were mainly Pinus radiata and Cupressus macrocarpa (Monterey cypress), seeds of which were supplied from the Wellington Botanic Garden during the 1870s. There was also a certain amount of garden area in Block III, although the arrangement was less formal.

In 1896 the first weirs were placed in the Otepuni. Originally, they were for aesthetic reasons because of low water levels in the summer, but later the downstream weirs also dammed-up water for firefighting purposes.

The band rotunda in Block II was built in 1920. An aviary was constructed in Block II some time prior to 1922 and, until the one in Queens Park was constructed, was the only public aviary.

Snow in the Otepuni Gardens in 1939. Image: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19390823-41-01.

Throughout these years returned servicemen were used on various works in the Otepuni Gardens, such as the removal of roots to facilitate mowing by machine instead of scythes, and many other minor improvements.

Plant propagation remained in the Otepuni Gardens until the new nursery in Queens Park was established, some years later in 1931. It was in 1930 that James McPherson first proposed that Queens Park be the future public garden of Invercargill as the Otepuni Gardens were considered to be too small and cramped. He considered that they should be looked upon as rest gardens for the city.

The next major works in the Otepuni Gardens occurred during the period 1989-1991, when flood protection works necessitated the construction of stop banks to contain the waters of the Otepuni Stream (Appendix 6.0). That meant that each block was enclosed by stop banks. Work was carried out by the Southland Regional Council, with the Invercargill City Council Parks Division having a major input with the landscaping.

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Otepuni Gardens

Otepuni Gardens

Otepuni Gardens

Forth St, Invercargill 9810, New Zealand