Daily Photo – If you walk along St Kilda Beach on a quiet morning …

If you walk along St Kilda Beach on a quiet morning, before the dog walkers and joggers appear, it is easy to imagine the place long before Dunedin ever existed. The dunes once rolled back into a patchwork of wetlands, lagoons and sandy ridges that shifted with the seasons. Long before the name St Kilda arrived from halfway across the world, this coastline was part of the wider food gathering network of the Kai Tahu and Kāti Māmoe tribes. It was a place where shellfish were gathered, fires burned quietly against the wind and travelling parties camped while moving between coastal settlements.

Standing there with the waves tumbling in, it is comforting to think that the same rhythm drew people here centuries ago. The long, straight run of sand would have made an ideal landing place, and the nearby wetlands were a natural pantry filled with fish, birds and plants. Every so often, when the light is right, you get the sense that the waves remember, even if the city has forgotten. The gulls still circle in the same lazy patterns and the land sits with the sort of confidence that comes from having been here a very long time.