Kiwi Icon: The steepest street

New Zealand boasts the steepest street in the world (sorry Wales, you tried and
failed).
Baldwin Street in Dunedin has been celebrated in many different ways. Including the annual gutbuster where runners go up and down again and the rolling of thousands of Jaffas
down it.
There have also been plenty of stunts, including one man who went up it on a pogo stick and another who used a motorcycle but on one wheel.
Tourists flock to the street, sometimes to the residents’ dismay.
Baldwin Street is a 359m dead end street (although there is a linking walkway at the
top) with a gradient of 34.8 percent - now officially recognised the Guinness Book of
Records.
It was never intended to be that steep. Like many cities in New Zealand, Dunedin was laid out in a grid with no consideration for the terrain.
So how did Baldwin Street get its name?
It’s named after William Baldwin - who was born John Baldwin in 1836 in Ireland.
He served in the army in India before coming to Otago in 1869 and buying a sheep run.
He was one of the first discoverers of gold in Waitahuna. Baldwin tried politics for a short while but never made a career of it. Maybe because he believed the North and South Islands should be separate.
In 1873 he established the Otago Guardian newspaper and became it’s general manager and editor.
He was also a partner in the accountancy and grain firm Baldwin & Ashcroft.
By 1891, he was also the owner of the New Zealand Times.
In the 1890’s he visited Perth in Australia for the first time and fell in love with the
climate. He determined he was going to retire there with his wife Janet Curling Buchanan.
He moved, and took no further part in business but was considered one of Perth’s
best known residents.
He died aged 82 on July 30, 1917 and is buried in Kattakatta Cemetery in Perth.​