1938 the first Navy League Sea Cadet unit was formed in Otago under the command of ex-servicemen and some serving naval officers. For the next three years they paraded at several empty warehouses and halls around Dunedin, but the vast majority of it was at the St Andrew street volunteer reserves hall.
In August 1941 an old harbour ferry, TSS Waireka was purchased for £300. It was in a state of disrepair when purchased, but was soon brought up to standard and set fast into the harbour shoreline though the great efforts of all the volunteers who helped out on this mammoth exercise, cadets and adults alike.
November 1942 saw the first commissioning ceremony, as NLTS (Navy League Training Ship) Waireka.NLTS Waireka would serve Dunedin Sea Cadets until 1953 when she was condemned due to structural deterioration and sold to a scrap dealer for £45.
The present building at 27 Kitchener Street was commissioned/ opened in 1954 as TS Waireka. The Navy League no longer ran sea cadets, so the NL was dropped from NLTS Waireka.
1978 saw the first Female Sea Cadet enrolled in NZSCC. Female cadets now consist of nearly 45% of all Sea Cadets today
.2000 TS Waireka gifted MV Seagull, a diesel motor launch, from the Royal New Zealand Navy. She was one of the survey boats off the now de-commissioned HMNZS Monawai.
Since 1938 just shy of 1000 Sea Cadets have passed through TS Wairekas training syllabus.
