What To Do with Excess Rugged Natural Beauty

New Zealand’s southern island is know for being an area of intense rugged natural beauty that is inhabited by actually penguins and fictional hobbits. While it is obvious how one should deal with fictional hobbits (make a movie) it is sometimes difficult to figure out how to deal with rugged natural beauty. Here is a quick look at some of the approaches made by the people of Dunedin in recent history.

Keep it & Build an Awesome Utopia

Some time around 1848 the Free Church of Scotland became overwhelmed by the feeling that Edinburgh, Scotland was WAY too cool of a place not to have a more utopia version in New Zealand. So, they founded Dunedin.

They chose a site of exquisite rugged natural beauty that was close to a good natural harbor and a peninsula inhabited by penguins It seemed almost impossible for such a wonderful place not to be a utopia. Hell, they even showed their great respect for Edinburgh by basing the name of the town on the Gaelic word for Edinburgh, Dùn ÈidÈideann.

Dig up and Sell the Shinny parts (aka “you sat on my utopia!”)

Not everyone agreed that the rugged natural beauty of the area was best utilized as a backdrop for a utopia that really liked Edinburgh. There were those who thought it would be far better if the beauty of the area could make them filthy rich. These people were incredibly excited when a bunch of gold was discovered in the area.

No longer did one have to build a boat big enough to move the majestic mountains. Instead, they could just dig up the shinny parts of the mountains and sell them!

People flooded into the area. The discovery of gold near Dunedin can just as the gold rushes of California and Victoria Australia were petering out. Prospectors were able to trade in their old gold rush for a new one by going to new Zealand.

Use it to Lure People In

Sure, gold runs out. However, being really big doesn’t have to.

After the gold rush Dunedin made a bid to use it’s newly enlarged size to…enlarge it’s size. It was histories classic “we are really big and cool, so you should move here and make us bigger and cooler” argument.

Dunedin even sought to speed up this process by throwing a really big party during New Zealand’s 1925 census. With so many people in town for the party, it would be almost impossible not to think that the city was bigger than it actually was. Which would convince more people to move to the city, and possibly make it as big as it pretended to be.

Creative Commons picture by PhillipC.
The moral of the story is: there are lots of ways to deal with your excess rugged natural beauty.