Tales From Darkest Dunedin

05/09/2025

The Ōtepoti Dunedin Heritage Festival is in October, so many amazing tours and lectures laying out the history of this fascinating city.

We're offering a tour of three of the cemeteries and a Murder and Woe true crime van tour.

Check them out and buy tickets on our website

Have you ever passed through a cemetery and wanted to glimpse into the stories behind the headstones? Local historian and experienced tour guide, Gregor Campbell has done just that and now his impressive catalogue of tales are available through guided tours

25/08/2025

Check out this review from one very happy birthday girl!

Fill up to 9 seats for $200 and experience an hour and a half of murder and woe, Victorian Dunedin true crime.

"The Murder and Woe tour was excellent. Gregor is a talented storyteller whose curiosity to uncover the facts and explore the circumstances was appreciated. A quirky and memorable birthday event which lead to interesting dinner conversation. I’m looking forward to doing another tour to find out more about the city I live in."

*Have this picture of a puppy because I can't find any of the van in my camera roll right now and honestly, even though it's new and fancy, it's not as nice as a puppy*

07/08/2025

If you're having a party or a works do, consider a murder and woe tour, true crime stories from gold rush, Victorian era Dunedin 🕵️‍♂️⚜️⛏️💰🚂

Murder and Woe

A perfect activity for a rainy, cold day! Not actual murder and woe, but the Darkest Dunedin tour Murder and Woe.

An hour and a half in a warm, modern minibus listening to true crime stories from Victorian era Dunedin while you see the actual locations plus a drive through the Northern Cemetery.

Great for parties, bring drinks and food aboard and be prepared for some wild tales!

Hire the whole 9 seater for $200 inc gst. Special off-season prices for locals, so email [email protected] to book!

08/07/2025

Wonderful news! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

For a city usually dressed in black, there sure is a lot of colour - as noted by international travel publication, Wanderlust Travel Magazine, naming Dunedin NZ as one of their top up-and-coming LGBTQ+ travel destinations.

9 up-and-coming LGBTQ+ destinations across the globe: wanderlustmagazine.com/inspiration/up-and-coming-lgbtq-destinations/

07/06/2025

Murder and Woe

A perfect activity for a rainy, cold day! Not actual murder and woe, but the Darkest Dunedin tour Murder and Woe.

An hour and a half in a warm, modern minibus listening to true crime stories from Victorian era Dunedin while you see the actual locations plus a drive through the Northern Cemetery.

Great for parties, bring drinks and food aboard and be prepared for some wild tales!

Hire the whole 9 seater for $200 inc gst. Special off-season prices for locals, so email [email protected] to book!

25/05/2025

Hear the stories that made New Zealand swoon recently.

This Tuesday, 27th May, 5.30pm we have 7 seats available for a Murder and Woe tour with a special price to get bums in those seats.

Get picked up in the Octagon and taken on a journey through the Northern Cemetery then various spots around Dunedin. See where the gold rush era murders and woe took place and hear the stories, woven by a master story teller.

90 mins approx
$45 incl GST
Email [email protected] to book your seats

19/05/2025

What. A. Day.

A huge thanks to the RNZ team for putting it all together and to Jesse for being extraordinarily gracious

19/05/2025

Have a listen to Gregor as he's today's "expert" on the Dunedin segment on Radio New Zealand

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018987783/expert-feature-dunedin-s-dark-history

19/05/2025

18/05/2025

This morning we took the team from Radio New Zealand for a tour of the city.

Listen to Jesse Mulligan RNZ Afternoons at 1pm to hear Gregor being interviewed from the iSite!

07/05/2025

A little while ago, we hosted a city tour for a visiting girls' high school from the North Island. They took one heck of a field trip to ease the girls into the idea of travelling for university. They heard all our usual stories but we pulled out Jean Parker for them. This was the story we drafted:

"Jean Parker, a Dunedin resident, was a married woman, working for the IRD. She felt it was unfair that a younger employee with less experience had been promoted over her because he was a man. She appealed the decision and won her case but the Public Service Commission retaliated by changing her job and cutting her pay by roughly one third. She had been warned by the commission that this might happen if she took the appeal. The PSA, her union, went into action on her behalf. The case was debated in Parliament, with the Leader of the Opposition claiming that Jean had been penalised for exercising her legal right to appeal an injustice.

At the base of the situation was a fundamental belief that a man was and should be the provider for his family and that women should be wives and mothers. In those days, that was the usual division of labour in a family and a man's wage was usually enough for the whole family. Women were expected to have jobs only until they married or, in later years, take on something part-time when her children were at school or grown up.

There were nationwide protests by the PSA and an Equal Pay Act was passed by Parliament in 1960. It was only a small step in employment equality for women, but an important one. The struggle continues..."

It's such a privilege to have a platform where we can show people history so they can prepare for the future.