The Exchange, Dunedin

Here, Princes Street reaches its lowest point, having descended from the stump of Bell Hill to what was once on Dunedin's Otago Harbour shoreline.

Now several hundred metres inland from the edge of the Otago Harbour, the site was originally coastal,[1] and was one of several landing places used by Kāti Māmoe and Kāi Tahu Māori.

It had a gently sloping beach and access to fresh water and hunting, making it an ideal spot for settlement, and was still in use at the time of the first European colonisers.

The site is recognised by a plaque at John Wickliffe Plaza, and by a Heritage New Zealand Wāhi Tāpuna designation as a place important for its significance to Māori for historical, cultural, and traditional reasons.

[2] Reclamation of the foreshore led to the loss of the tauraka waka and the associated Princes Street Reserve, leading to a Māori grievance which would not be settled for over a century.

[3] Massive reclamation of the area led to the creation of a wide strip of land, since occupied by commercial premises, warehousing, and the main rail line.

Today, though it is no longer the city's business centre, the Exchange is a vibrant area containing both office buildings and small eateries.

[8] The Plaza contains several other items of public sculpture, notably a series of three small brass penguins called "We are not alone", sculpted by Dan Parry-Jones and unveiled in 1999.

[9] A Historic Places Trust blue plaque at the foot of the Cargill Monument marks the location of the first Salvation Army meeting in New Zealand, held at the site in April 1883.

Wain's Hotel, immediately opposite the former Post Office building, is an imposing Italianate structure built in 1878 from designs by Mason and Wales.