Students pitch in to clean up quarter

It was a beautiful thing to watch — University of Otago students come out in force to clean, rather than party yesterday.

Hundreds of them swarmed Castle St with rubbish bags, brooms and shovels to clean up the vast array of refuse, including maggot-infested rubbish, cans, broken glass, even broken beds.

Hundreds of University of Otago students swarm in Castle St, helping with the annual North Dunedin Clean-Up. PHOTOS: PETER MCINTOSH

While some of the smells left some students gagging, others such as Eliza Goldsmith took it in their stride.

"I live on Castle St and I wish that people would take better care of it," she said.

University of Otago students (from left) Finn Johannessen (19), of Auckland, Rosie McAllister (19), of Blenheim, and Sebastian Skerten (18), of Auckland, take part in the clean-up.

"We all have rubbish, but the council doesn’t pick it up unless it’s in council bin bags.

"So it’s really good to have an event to make sure that everything does get taken away — especially after St Patrick’s Day, and Flo and O Week."

University of Otago student Eliza Goldsmith (19), of Auckland, sweeps up some of the mountains of broken glass which have accumulated in Castle St since the start of this year.

The event was hosted by the university’s Hold On To Your Friends student group, which aims to promote a balanced culture between safety and student fun, and make sure the lessons learnt from the tragic death of former student Sophia Crestani were not lost as new cohorts of students begin their studies at Otago.

Miss Crestani died when she was caught in a stairwell pile-up at a Dundas St flat party, in October 2019.

Miss Goldsmith said she started at the university after Sophia’s death, but the incident was still at the forefront of students’ minds.

University of Otago students (from left) Grace Hemi, Annabelle Chanwai and Campbell Colquhoun (all 19), of Dunedin, drag rubbish from Castle St to a nearby skip.

"It think it’s important to make the streets as safe as possible.

"It’s good to have an event like this, to clean up and to remember that we need to be safe as well."

john.lewis@odt.co.nz