Famous People Born In Dunedin

Brendon McCullum is a New Zealand former cricket player who captained the national team in all formats of the game. Renowned for his ability to score runs quickly, McCullum is regarded as one of the most successful captains of the national cricket team. Brendon McCullum is currently associated with the England cricket test team where he is the head coach. 

Alan Dale is a New Zealand actor best known for his portrayal of Jim Robinson in the popular Australian television soap opera, Neighbours. After realizing that he had become stereotyped as Jim Robinson in New Zealand and Australia, Alan Dale moved to the US where he achieved international recognition after appearing in movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Fred Hollows became a renowned name in the field of ophthalmology after helping thousands of people see by restoring their sight. Born in New Zealand, Hollows later became an Australian citizen. He had initially aspired to join the clergy but had decided against it after visiting a mental institution.

Initially trained to be a schoolteacher, Janet Frame later soared to fame with her short stories, poems, and her 3-part memoir, including An Angel at My Table. Misdiagnosed as schizophrenic, she spent almost a decade in mental hospitals. She wrote most of her works while in psychiatric care.

Harold Gillies was a New Zealand otolaryngologist who is considered the father of modern plastic surgery. He is also credited with pioneering sex reassignment surgery; he performed one of the earliest sex reassignment surgeries on Michael Dillon in 1946. Harold Gillies was also an amateur golfer and played in the annual Amateur Championship from 1906 to 1931.

One of New Zealand’s best-known poets, James K. Baxter was inspired by Romantic and British modernist poets and mythology. He also penned the popular radio play Jack Winter’s Dream, apart from various other plays and social and literary criticism. He used his Maori name Hemi later in life.

Robert Wade was a chess player, arbiter, coach, writer, and promoter. A three-time New Zealand champion and two-time British champion, Robert Wade held the titles of International Arbiter and International Master. He also took part in seven Chess Olympiads over the course of his career.

David Bain is a New Zealand man who achieved national fame when he was wrongly convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1995 for the murders of his family members. Dubbed the Bain family murders, the case attracted national attention, especially during its retrial in 2009 when David Bain was acquitted. The murders inspired a TV series titled Black Hands.