The Continuance Institute

The Circles · C-36

Dunedin Circle

The oldest circle in the southern register and the one that keeps two halls standing.

Place
Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand
Recognised
1996
Affiliated house
South House
Assigned steward
Hine Waititi
Convener
Angus McPhailMarine engineer. Term began 2025; second and final consecutive year.
Ordinary meeting
Weekly, Thursday evenings
Typical attendance
14 to 20
Access
Open to visitors

Local history

Recognised in 1996, four years before South House itself was established, which makes Dunedin the only circle in the register that predates its own affiliated house. It was attached to Fell House for its first four years and the correspondence travelled accordingly, taking six weeks each way.

The reserves agreement dates from 2002 and is renewed every three years. The two halls are not the Institute's and never will be; the circle maintains them and holds no key to either beyond the working season.

The outward obligation

Repair and restoration

Coastal track and hall repair, held with a district reserves committee.

Steps, stiles, drainage, and the maintenance of two small public halls. About three hundred hours a year.

The forms it carries

  • The Quiet Twelve

    Twelve minutes are kept before the reading. Nothing is assigned to the silence.

  • The Repair Table

    A table, a bench, or a marked shelf where ordinary objects wait to be mended.

  • The Boundary Walk

    At the start of each season the practical boundary is walked and what is wrong with it is written down.

  • The Weather Entry

    Before the first shared meal of the month, one person writes the weather in the house book.

Local variation. The boundary walk is walked on public reserve land under the committee's agreement, and its notes go straight onto the committee's own work list.

The shared forms, as they are kept in the houses

Also attached to South House

Elsewhere in Asia and Pacific