ABSTRACT
The reality that greeted the first ships sent by the Otago Association bore little resemblance to Kettle's vision for the future, however. Swamps dotted with flax dominated the northern part of the site; mud flats spread across what was to be the inner city; and the hills were covered with thick bush and innumerable streams and springs. During the 1850s, although the streets surveyed by Kettle constituted an ironic commentary on the muddy reality, Princes Street nevertheless
took shape, Bell Hill began to disappear, and as the brave took up residence toward the Octagon (or still farther north), they built their houses within the contours of the town plan. John Barr, the unofficial poet laureate of the new colony, nicely captured in his poems the tension between the idealism and the materialism of the new settlers, their desire to build a new society redeemed from the ills of that which they had chosen to leave, and their commitment to a more narrowly defined pursuit of individual wealth and comfort.
