Oamaru
Encyclopedia
Oamaru the largest town in North Otago
, in the South Island
of New Zealand
, is the main town in the Waitaki District
. It is 80 kilometres south of Timaru
and 120 kilometres north of Dunedin
, on the Pacific
coast, and State Highway 1
and the railway Main South Line
connects it to both. Oamaru's historic status as the second centre in the Otago
Region (after Dunedin) appears under threat from the growth of Queenstown
in Central Otago
. The Air New Zealand
subsidiary Eagle Airways provides regular flights from Oamaru Airport to Christchurch
.
The name Oamaru apparently derives from Māori
words meaning the place of Maru (compare with Timaru). The identity of Maru remains open to conjecture.
mouth and at Awamoa both date from the Archaic (Moa-hunter) phase of Māori culture
, when New Zealand's human population clustered along the south-east coast from about 1100 AD. The Waitaki River mouth had at least 1,200 ovens. Awamoa saw the first archaeological excavation in New Zealand when W.B.D. Mantell dug there at Christmas 1847 and in 1852. Smaller Archaic sites exist at Cape Wanbrow
and at Beach Road in central Oamaru. The distinctive Archaic art of the Waitaki Valley rock shelters dates from this period — some of it presumably made by the occupants of these sites. The area also features Classic and Protohistoric sites, from after about 1500 AD, at Tamahaerewhenua, Tekorotuaheka, Te Punamaru, Papakaio and Kakanui
.
Māori tradition tells of the ancient people Kahui Tipua building a canoe, Arai Te Uru, which sailed from southern New Zealand to the ancestral Polynesia
n homeland, Hawaiki
, to obtain kumara
. On its return it became waterlogged off the Waitaki River mouth, lost food baskets at Moeraki
beach and ended up wrecked at Matakaea (Shag Point) where it turned into Danger Reef. After the wreck a crew member, Pahihiwitahi, seeking water, discovered the Waitaki River, but on returning south and failing to reach the wreck before dawn he was turned into a hill in the Shag Valley. Modern academics have suggested this tale is an allegorical explanation of the fact that kumara will not grow south of Banks Peninsula
.
On 20 February 1770 James Cook
in the Endeavour
reached a position very close to the Waitaki mouth and "about 3 Miles from the shore" according to his journal. He said the land "here is very low and flat and continues so up to the skirts of the Hills which are at least 4 or 5 Miles in land. The whole face of the Country appears barren, nor did we see any signs of inhabitants." He stayed on this part of the coast four days. Sydney Parkinson, the expedition's artist, described what seems to be Cape Wanbrow, in Oamaru. On 20 February he wrote "...we were near the land, which formed an agreeable view to the naked eye. The hills were of a moderate height, having flats that extended from them a long way, bordered by a perpendicular rocky cliff next to the sea."
Māori did live in the area, and sealers
visited the coast in 1814. The Creed manuscript
, discovered in 2003, records:
Pukeheke's party killed and ate these as well. The Pākehā, a party from the Matilda (Captain Fowler), under the first mate Robert Brown with two other Europeans and five lascars or Indian seamen, made eight in all, not seven as the manuscript says. They had been sent in an open boat from Stewart Island in search of a party of absconding lascars. Brown must have had some reason for searching for them on the North Otago coast.
After Te Rauparaha
's sack of the large pa (fortified settlement)
at Kaiapoi
near modern Christchurch
in 1831, refugees came south and gained permission to settle at Kakaunui (Kakanui), and the territory between Pukeuri and Waianakarua, including the site of urban Oamaru, became their domain.
Whalers
sometimes visited this part of the coast in the 1830s. The Jason, for example, probably of New London
in the United States, Captain Chester, was reported at "Otago Bluff" south of Kakanui, with 2500 barrels (397,468.2 l) of oil, on 1 December 1839.
Edward Shortland visited the area in 1844, coming overland from Waikouaiti
. On January 9 he recorded "Our path to-day was sometimes along the edge of a low cliff, sometimes along the beach, till we approached Oamaru point, where it turned inland, and crossed a low range of hills, from which we looked over an extensive plain ... Towards the afternoon, we ascended a range of hills called Pukeuri, separating this plain from another more extensive. The sky was so remarkably clear that, from the highest point of the pathway, Moeraki was distinctly in view..." He made a map and placed Oamaru on it. He was one of several Europeans who passed through the area on foot in the 1840s. James Saunders became the first European resident of the district some time before 1850 when he settled to trade among the Māori of the Waitaki River mouth.
More European settlers arrived in the Oamaru area in the 1850s. Hugh Robison built and lived in a sod hut by the Oamaru Creek in 1853 while establishing his sheep run
. J.T. Thomson surveyed the place as a town in 1859, and the Otago Provincial government
declared "hundreds" there on 30 November 1860. The town grew as a service-centre for the agricultural/pastoral hinterland between the Kakanui Mountains and the Waitaki River
, and rapidly became a major port, starting construction of a breakwater in 1871. For many years there was a commercial and fishing harbour under Cape Wanbrow
at Friendly Bay.
With the development of pastoralism and the associated frozen-meat industry having its historical origins in New Zealand just south of the town at Totara, Oamaru flourished. Institutions such as the Athenaeum and Waitaki Boys'
and Waitaki Girls' High School
s sprang up. The locally plentiful limestone (Oamaru stone
) lent itself to carving and good designers, such as J.M. Forrester (1865–1965) and craftsmen utilised it. By the time of the depression of the 1880s
Oamaru had become the "best built and most mortgaged town in Australasia".
Development slowed, but the population continued to grow until the 1970s. With the closure of the port and the New Zealand economy stalled Oamaru found itself hard hit. In response it started to re-invent itself, becoming one of the first New Zealand towns to realise its built heritage was an asset.
A public art gallery, the Forrester, opened in 1983 in R.A. Lawson
's neo-classical Bank of New South Wales
building. Restoration of other buildings also took place. A trust formed, and work began restoring the historic precinct beside the port, perhaps the most atmospheric urban area in New Zealand. By the early 21st century, "heritage" had become a conspicuous industry.
, who grew up in the town, reflect Oamaru conditions and Oamaruvians. Other literary associations include those with Owen Marshall
, Greg McGee
and Fiona Farrell Poole. Other prominent persons born and educated in Oamaru include Des Wilson
, founder of the UK homelessness charity, Shelter
; Australia
n Prime Minister
Chris Watson
; New Zealand
politicians Arnold Nordmeyer
and William Steward
; Cardinal
Thomas Stafford Williams; Malcolm Grant
, President and Provost of University College London
; and All Blacks
rugby union
captain Richie McCaw
. Fred Allen, an All Black of the 1940s who went on to coach the All Blacks to 14 wins from his 14 tests in the 1960s, was born in Oamaru, though not educated there.
The world first learned of the death of Robert Scott and the members of his team on their return from the ill-fated expedition to the South Pole
by way of a cable sent from Oamaru, on 10 February 1913.
From the 1920s to the 1940s Frank Milner (1875 – 1944) turned Waitaki Boys' High School
into one of the most admired schools in the country through his old-fashioned values, inspiring leadership
and broad outlook. Notable students include Charles Brasch
(1909 – 1973) at Waitaki 1923 – 1926, a poet and patron of artists; Douglas Lilburn
(1915 – 2001), "the elder statesman of New Zealand music"; James Bertram
(1910 – 1993), writer and academic; Denis Blundell
, a future Governor-General of New Zealand
; and Ian Milner (1911 – 1991), the Rector's son, a Czech and English scholar falsely accused of spying for Communism. His father, known as "The Man", died suddenly on 2 December 1944 while speaking at the opening of a stone gateway to Milner Park, Oamaru.
E.A. Gifford (1819 – 1894), an artist and Royal Academician
, lived in Oamaru from 1877 to 1885 and from 1892 until his death. A genre, portrait and landscape painter he established a national reputation. The art world remembers him for works like his Auckland from the Wharf of 1887, probably the best-known image of 19th-century Auckland.
Emily Gillies, a 19th-century Oamaru artist, was the daughter of C.H. Street, maternal niece of Edward Lear
(1812 – 1888), the famous English watercolourist and writer of humorous verse. Lear's sister had virtually brought her brother up. When he died childless before her she inherited his residuary collection. The internationally significant group of works came to North Otago, where it remained intact until the early 1970s.
The artist Colin McCahon
(1919–1987) lived in Oamaru in 1930–1931, attending the Middle School. The place and the North Otago landscape made an impression on him. He revisited the area several times as an adult on painting trips. Cartoonist John Kent
, who authored the Varoomshka
comic strip
for The Guardian
newspaper in England
, hailed from Oamaru.
A strong community of living artists , and many dealer galleries have premises in the historic precinct. One of the town's principal living artists, Donna Demente
, produces portraits and masks. At least partly through her work Oamaru hosts an annual mask festival each July, the "Midwinter Masquerade". Another annual celebration, a Victorian Heritage fête, takes place in November.
Other noted former Oamaruvians include broadcaster Jim Mora
and hockey player Scott Anderson
.
Many public buildings are built of local limestone, quarried especially near Weston, and known as Oamaru stone
. The southern part of Oamaru's main business district ranks as one of New Zealand's most impressive streetscapes due to the many prominent buildings constructed from this material. This and another part of the town close to the harbour have been preserved as historic precincts.
Most of the streets in Oamaru take their names from rivers in England
, particularly rivers in the northwest and southeast of the country. The main retail and commercial areas line Thames Street; State Highway 1 running south follows Severn Street, and historic commercial buildings dominate Tyne Street.
A colony of little blue penguins
lives on the harbour, and a colony of yellow-eyed penguin
s just south of the town attracts ecotourists
. Penguins sometimes live under buildings close to the beach, including the town's music club, The Penguin Club.
Oamaru is the eastern gateway to the Mackenzie Basin
, via the Waitaki Valley.
Shibboleth
: The southern (Kāi Tahu) dialect of Māori
ignores the first A in the name (AUH-muh-ROO). Northern Māori speakers prefer to stress the A (o-UH-muh-ROO). Thus one can guess whether a speaker comes from Otago — as in the audio here — or from further north.
, published from Mondays to Fridays, has its base in Oamaru as well as the Waitaki Herald, both Wednesdays and Fridays. The town is within the coverage area of Radio Dunedin
and within the circulation area of the Otago Daily Times
, based in Dunedin. Oamaru has its own community television
station, "45 South Television", which transmits from Cape Wanbrow on UHF channel 41.
from Aoraki/Mount Cook
, the trail to be constructed in the following years after approval in 2010 by the New Zealand Cycle Trail project.
fictionalised the Oamaru of her childhood as "Waimaru".
Peter F. Hamilton
's novel The Dreaming Void
(London: Macmillan, 2007; ISBN 978-1-4050-0) refers to " ... the backwater External World of Oamaru" (page 22).
North Otago
The district of North Otago in New Zealand covers the area of Otago between Shag Point and the Waitaki River, and extends inland to the west as far as the village of Omarama . The large east-coast town of Oamaru serves as North Otago's main centre...
, in the South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, is the main town in the Waitaki District
Waitaki District
The Waitaki district, in the Canterbury and Otago regions of New Zealand, straddles the traditional border between the two regions, the Waitaki River. It has a land area of 7,151.94 km² , divided 59.28% to Canterbury Region and 40.72% to Otago Region. It is the only district on the South...
. It is 80 kilometres south of Timaru
Timaru
TimaruUrban AreaPopulation:27,200Extent:Former Timaru City CouncilTerritorial AuthorityName:Timaru District CouncilPopulation:42,867 Land area:2,736.54 km² Mayor:Janie AnnearWebsite:...
and 120 kilometres north of Dunedin
Dunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
, on the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
coast, and State Highway 1
State Highway 1 (New Zealand)
State Highway 1 is the longest and most significant road in the New Zealand roading network, running the length of both main islands. It appears on road maps as SH 1 and on road signs as a white number 1 on a red shield, but it has the official designations SH 1N in the North Island, SH 1S in the...
and the railway Main South Line
Main South Line
The Main South Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, is a railroad line that runs north and south from Lyttelton in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the South Island to Invercargill via Dunedin...
connects it to both. Oamaru's historic status as the second centre in the Otago
Otago
Otago is a region of New Zealand in the south of the South Island. The region covers an area of approximately making it the country's second largest region. The population of Otago is...
Region (after Dunedin) appears under threat from the growth of Queenstown
Queenstown, New Zealand
Queenstown is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is built around an inlet called Queenstown Bay on Lake Wakatipu, a long thin Z-shaped lake formed by glacial processes, and has spectacular views of nearby mountains....
in Central Otago
Central Otago
Central Otago is the inland part of the New Zealand region of Otago in the South Island. The area commonly known as Central Otago includes both the Central Otago District and the Queenstown-Lakes District to the west....
. The Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand Limited is the national airline and flag carrier of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 26 domestic destinations and 24 international destinations in 15 countries across Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania, and is...
subsidiary Eagle Airways provides regular flights from Oamaru Airport to Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
.
The name Oamaru apparently derives from Māori
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
words meaning the place of Maru (compare with Timaru). The identity of Maru remains open to conjecture.
History
There are some important archaeological sites around Oamaru. Those at the Waitaki RiverWaitaki River
The Waitaki River is a large river in the South Island of New Zealand, some 110 km long. It is the major river of the Mackenzie Basin.It is a braided river which flows through Lake Benmore, Lake Aviemore and Lake Waitaki. These are ultimately fed by three large glacial lakes, Pukaki, Tekapo,...
mouth and at Awamoa both date from the Archaic (Moa-hunter) phase of Māori culture
Maori culture
Māori culture is the culture of the Māori of New Zealand, an Eastern Polynesian people, and forms a distinctive part of New Zealand culture. Within the Māori community, and to a lesser extent throughout New Zealand as a whole, the word Māoritanga is often used as an approximate synonym for Māori...
, when New Zealand's human population clustered along the south-east coast from about 1100 AD. The Waitaki River mouth had at least 1,200 ovens. Awamoa saw the first archaeological excavation in New Zealand when W.B.D. Mantell dug there at Christmas 1847 and in 1852. Smaller Archaic sites exist at Cape Wanbrow
Cape Wanbrow
Cape Wanbrow is a rocky headland one kilometre to the south of Oamaru, New Zealand. A lighthouse on the cape guards the entrance to Oamaru Harbour....
and at Beach Road in central Oamaru. The distinctive Archaic art of the Waitaki Valley rock shelters dates from this period — some of it presumably made by the occupants of these sites. The area also features Classic and Protohistoric sites, from after about 1500 AD, at Tamahaerewhenua, Tekorotuaheka, Te Punamaru, Papakaio and Kakanui
Kakanui
The small town of Kakanui lies on the coast of Otago, in New Zealand, fourteen kilometres to the south of Oamaru. The Kakanui River and its estuary divide the township in two. The part of the settlement south of the river, also known as Kakanui South, formerly "Campbells Bay", was developed as a...
.
Māori tradition tells of the ancient people Kahui Tipua building a canoe, Arai Te Uru, which sailed from southern New Zealand to the ancestral Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
n homeland, Hawaiki
Hawaiki
In Māori mythology, Hawaiki is the homeland of the Māori, the original home of the Māori, before they travelled across the sea to New Zealand...
, to obtain kumara
Sweet potato
The sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of...
. On its return it became waterlogged off the Waitaki River mouth, lost food baskets at Moeraki
Moeraki
Moeraki is a small fishing village on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It was once the location of a whaling station. In the 1870s, local interests believed it could become the main port for the north Otago area and a railway line, the Moeraki Branch, was built to the settlement...
beach and ended up wrecked at Matakaea (Shag Point) where it turned into Danger Reef. After the wreck a crew member, Pahihiwitahi, seeking water, discovered the Waitaki River, but on returning south and failing to reach the wreck before dawn he was turned into a hill in the Shag Valley. Modern academics have suggested this tale is an allegorical explanation of the fact that kumara will not grow south of Banks Peninsula
Banks Peninsula
Banks Peninsula is a peninsula of volcanic origin on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It has an area of approximately and encompasses two large harbours and many smaller bays and coves...
.
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
in the Endeavour
HM Bark Endeavour
HMS Endeavour, also known as HM Bark Endeavour, was a British Royal Navy research vessel commanded by Lieutenant James Cook on his first voyage of discovery, to Australia and New Zealand from 1769 to 1771....
reached a position very close to the Waitaki mouth and "about 3 Miles from the shore" according to his journal. He said the land "here is very low and flat and continues so up to the skirts of the Hills which are at least 4 or 5 Miles in land. The whole face of the Country appears barren, nor did we see any signs of inhabitants." He stayed on this part of the coast four days. Sydney Parkinson, the expedition's artist, described what seems to be Cape Wanbrow, in Oamaru. On 20 February he wrote "...we were near the land, which formed an agreeable view to the naked eye. The hills were of a moderate height, having flats that extended from them a long way, bordered by a perpendicular rocky cliff next to the sea."
Māori did live in the area, and sealers
Seal hunting
Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. The hunt is currently practiced in five countries: Canada, where most of the world's seal hunting takes place, Namibia, the Danish region of Greenland, Norway and Russia...
visited the coast in 1814. The Creed manuscript
Sealers' War
The Sealers' War, also known as the "War of the Shirt", was a conflict in southern New Zealand started in 1810 by a Māori chief's theft of a red shirt, a knife and some other articles from the sealing vessel the Sydney Cove in Otago Harbour, and the excessive revenge of unidentified Europeans from...
, discovered in 2003, records:
Some of the [local] people [had been] absent on a feasting expedition to meet a great party from Taumutu, Akaroa, Orawenua [Arowhenua]. They were returning. The [sealers'] boat passed on to the Bluff 8 miles north of Moeraki where they landed & arranged their boat - & lay down to sleep in their boat. At night Pukuheke, father of Te More, went to the boat, found them asleep & came back to the other Natives south of the Bluff. They went with 100 [men] killing 5 Europeans & eat them. Two of the seven escaped through the darkness of the night & fled as far as Goodwood, Bobby's Head, after being 2 days and nights on the way.
Pukeheke's party killed and ate these as well. The Pākehā, a party from the Matilda (Captain Fowler), under the first mate Robert Brown with two other Europeans and five lascars or Indian seamen, made eight in all, not seven as the manuscript says. They had been sent in an open boat from Stewart Island in search of a party of absconding lascars. Brown must have had some reason for searching for them on the North Otago coast.
After Te Rauparaha
Te Rauparaha
Te Rauparaha was a Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe who took a leading part in the Musket Wars. He was influential in the original sale of conquered Rangitane land to the New Zealand Company and was a participant in the Wairau Incident in Marlborough...
's sack of the large pa (fortified settlement)
Pa (Maori)
The word pā can refer to any Māori village or settlement, but in traditional use it referred to hillforts fortified with palisades and defensive terraces and also to fortified villages. They first came into being about 1450. They are located mainly in the North Island north of lake Taupo...
at Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi is a town in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand, located close to the mouth of the Waimakariri River, and approximately 17 kilometres north of Christchurch....
near modern Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
in 1831, refugees came south and gained permission to settle at Kakaunui (Kakanui), and the territory between Pukeuri and Waianakarua, including the site of urban Oamaru, became their domain.
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
sometimes visited this part of the coast in the 1830s. The Jason, for example, probably of New London
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
in the United States, Captain Chester, was reported at "Otago Bluff" south of Kakanui, with 2500 barrels (397,468.2 l) of oil, on 1 December 1839.
Edward Shortland visited the area in 1844, coming overland from Waikouaiti
Waikouaiti
Waikouaiti is a small town in East Otago, New Zealand, within the city limits of Dunedin. The town is close to the coast and the mouth of the Waikouaiti River....
. On January 9 he recorded "Our path to-day was sometimes along the edge of a low cliff, sometimes along the beach, till we approached Oamaru point, where it turned inland, and crossed a low range of hills, from which we looked over an extensive plain ... Towards the afternoon, we ascended a range of hills called Pukeuri, separating this plain from another more extensive. The sky was so remarkably clear that, from the highest point of the pathway, Moeraki was distinctly in view..." He made a map and placed Oamaru on it. He was one of several Europeans who passed through the area on foot in the 1840s. James Saunders became the first European resident of the district some time before 1850 when he settled to trade among the Māori of the Waitaki River mouth.
Sheep station
A sheep station is a large property in Australia or New Zealand whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or south-west of the country. In New Zealand the Merinos are usually in the high country of the South...
. J.T. Thomson surveyed the place as a town in 1859, and the Otago Provincial government
Otago Province
The Otago Province was a province of New Zealand until the abolition of provincial government in 1876.-Area:The capital of the province was Dunedin...
declared "hundreds" there on 30 November 1860. The town grew as a service-centre for the agricultural/pastoral hinterland between the Kakanui Mountains and the Waitaki River
Waitaki River
The Waitaki River is a large river in the South Island of New Zealand, some 110 km long. It is the major river of the Mackenzie Basin.It is a braided river which flows through Lake Benmore, Lake Aviemore and Lake Waitaki. These are ultimately fed by three large glacial lakes, Pukaki, Tekapo,...
, and rapidly became a major port, starting construction of a breakwater in 1871. For many years there was a commercial and fishing harbour under Cape Wanbrow
Cape Wanbrow
Cape Wanbrow is a rocky headland one kilometre to the south of Oamaru, New Zealand. A lighthouse on the cape guards the entrance to Oamaru Harbour....
at Friendly Bay.
With the development of pastoralism and the associated frozen-meat industry having its historical origins in New Zealand just south of the town at Totara, Oamaru flourished. Institutions such as the Athenaeum and Waitaki Boys'
Waitaki Boys' High School
Waitaki Boys' High School is a secondary school for boys located in the northern part of the town of Oamaru, Otago, New Zealand, with day and boarding facilities, and was founded in 1883. It currently has a school roll of just over 530....
and Waitaki Girls' High School
Waitaki Girls' High School
Waitaki Girls' High School is a state high school for girls situated in Oamaru, on the East coast of New Zealand. It was founded in 1887, and presently has a roll of approximately 475 girls from the ages of 13 to 18...
s sprang up. The locally plentiful limestone (Oamaru stone
Oamaru stone
Oamaru stone is a hard, compact limestone, quarried at Weston, near Oamaru in Otago, New Zealand.The stone is used for building purposes, especially where ornate moulding is required. The finished stonework has a creamy, sandy colour...
) lent itself to carving and good designers, such as J.M. Forrester (1865–1965) and craftsmen utilised it. By the time of the depression of the 1880s
Long Depression
The Long Depression was a worldwide economic crisis, felt most heavily in Europe and the United States, which had been experiencing strong economic growth fueled by the Second Industrial Revolution in the decade following the American Civil War. At the time, the episode was labeled the Great...
Oamaru had become the "best built and most mortgaged town in Australasia".
Development slowed, but the population continued to grow until the 1970s. With the closure of the port and the New Zealand economy stalled Oamaru found itself hard hit. In response it started to re-invent itself, becoming one of the first New Zealand towns to realise its built heritage was an asset.
A public art gallery, the Forrester, opened in 1983 in R.A. Lawson
Robert Lawson (architect)
Robert Arthur Lawson was one of New Zealand's pre-eminent 19th century architects. It has been said he did more than any other designer to shape the face of the Victorian era architecture of the city of Dunedin...
's neo-classical Bank of New South Wales
Westpac
Westpac , is a multinational financial services, one of the Australian "big four" banks and the second-largest bank in New Zealand....
building. Restoration of other buildings also took place. A trust formed, and work began restoring the historic precinct beside the port, perhaps the most atmospheric urban area in New Zealand. By the early 21st century, "heritage" had become a conspicuous industry.
Famous people associated with Oamaru
Many of the early works of Janet FrameJanet Frame
Janet Paterson Frame, ONZ, CBE was a New Zealand author. She wrote eleven novels, four collections of short stories, a book of poetry, an edition of juvenile fiction, and three volumes of autobiography during her lifetime. Since her death, a twelfth novel, a second volume of poetry, and a handful...
, who grew up in the town, reflect Oamaru conditions and Oamaruvians. Other literary associations include those with Owen Marshall
Owen Marshall
Owen Marshall is the pen name of Owen Marshall Jones, a New Zealand short story writer and novelist. The third son of a Methodist minister and older brother of Rhys Jones, he came of age in Blenheim and Timaru, and graduated from the University of Canterbury with an MA in English in 1964...
, Greg McGee
Greg McGee
-Biography:McGee was born in 1950 in the South Island town of Oamaru. In his early 20s McGee was a Junior All Black and an All Black trialist. He graduated from the University of Otago with a law degree in 1972....
and Fiona Farrell Poole. Other prominent persons born and educated in Oamaru include Des Wilson
Des Wilson
Des Wilson is a New Zealand born British campaigner, political activist, businessman, sports administrator, author and Poker player. He was instrumental in the 1960s as a founder of the pivotal British homelessness charity Shelter and was for a while an activist in, and President of, the British...
, founder of the UK homelessness charity, Shelter
Shelter (charity)
Shelter is a registered charity in England and Scotland that campaigns to end homelessness and bad housing. It gives advice, information and advocacy to people in need, and tackles the root causes of bad housing by lobbying government and local authorities for new laws and policies to improve the...
; Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
Chris Watson
Chris Watson
John Christian Watson , commonly known as Chris Watson, Australian politician, was the third Prime Minister of Australia...
; New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
politicians Arnold Nordmeyer
Arnold Nordmeyer
Sir Arnold Henry Nordmeyer, ONZ, KCMG , born Heinrich Arnold Nordmeyer, was a New Zealand politician. He was leader of the Labour Party for three years while it was in Opposition.-Early life:...
and William Steward
William Steward (New Zealand politician)
Sir William Jukes Steward was a New Zealand politician and the first Liberal Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives. He represented South Canterbury electorates in Parliament for a total of 34 years, before being appointed to the Legislative Council...
; Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
Thomas Stafford Williams; Malcolm Grant
Malcolm Grant
Malcolm John Grant, CBE is the Provost and President of University College London. He took up the post – the principal academic and administrative officer and head of UCL – on 1 August 2003. Since then, UCL has developed as one of the world's leading universities and he has tackled critical...
, President and Provost of University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
; and All Blacks
All Blacks
The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....
rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
captain Richie McCaw
Richie McCaw
Richard Hugh "Richie" McCaw is a New Zealand rugby union player, and is the current test captain. He plays in the openside flanker position for the New Zealand, Crusaders and Canterbury rugby teams...
. Fred Allen, an All Black of the 1940s who went on to coach the All Blacks to 14 wins from his 14 tests in the 1960s, was born in Oamaru, though not educated there.
The world first learned of the death of Robert Scott and the members of his team on their return from the ill-fated expedition to the South Pole
Terra Nova Expedition
The Terra Nova Expedition , officially the British Antarctic Expedition 1910, was led by Robert Falcon Scott with the objective of being the first to reach the geographical South Pole. Scott and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912, to find that a Norwegian team led by Roald...
by way of a cable sent from Oamaru, on 10 February 1913.
From the 1920s to the 1940s Frank Milner (1875 – 1944) turned Waitaki Boys' High School
Waitaki Boys' High School
Waitaki Boys' High School is a secondary school for boys located in the northern part of the town of Oamaru, Otago, New Zealand, with day and boarding facilities, and was founded in 1883. It currently has a school roll of just over 530....
into one of the most admired schools in the country through his old-fashioned values, inspiring leadership
Leadership
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...
and broad outlook. Notable students include Charles Brasch
Charles Brasch
Charles Orwell Brasch was a New Zealand poet, literary editor and arts patron. He was the founding editor of the literary journal Landfall....
(1909 – 1973) at Waitaki 1923 – 1926, a poet and patron of artists; Douglas Lilburn
Douglas Lilburn
Douglas Gordon Lilburn ONZ FRCM was a New Zealand composer.-Early life:Lilburn was born in Wanganui. He attended Waitaki Boys' High School from 1930 to 1933, before moving to Christchurch to study journalism and music at Canterbury University College...
(1915 – 2001), "the elder statesman of New Zealand music"; James Bertram
James Munro Bertram
James Munro Bertram was a Rhodes scholar, a journalist, writer, relief worker, prisoner of war and a university professor....
(1910 – 1993), writer and academic; Denis Blundell
Denis Blundell
-Bibliography:* The Story of Bell Gully Buddle Weir by Julia Millen ISBN 1-86934-026-4-External links:* *...
, a future Governor-General of New Zealand
Governor-General of New Zealand
The Governor-General of New Zealand is the representative of the monarch of New Zealand . The Governor-General acts as the Queen's vice-regal representative in New Zealand and is often viewed as the de facto head of state....
; and Ian Milner (1911 – 1991), the Rector's son, a Czech and English scholar falsely accused of spying for Communism. His father, known as "The Man", died suddenly on 2 December 1944 while speaking at the opening of a stone gateway to Milner Park, Oamaru.
E.A. Gifford (1819 – 1894), an artist and Royal Academician
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
, lived in Oamaru from 1877 to 1885 and from 1892 until his death. A genre, portrait and landscape painter he established a national reputation. The art world remembers him for works like his Auckland from the Wharf of 1887, probably the best-known image of 19th-century Auckland.
Emily Gillies, a 19th-century Oamaru artist, was the daughter of C.H. Street, maternal niece of Edward Lear
Edward Lear
Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, author, and poet, renowned today primarily for his literary nonsense, in poetry and prose, and especially his limericks, a form that he popularised.-Biography:...
(1812 – 1888), the famous English watercolourist and writer of humorous verse. Lear's sister had virtually brought her brother up. When he died childless before her she inherited his residuary collection. The internationally significant group of works came to North Otago, where it remained intact until the early 1970s.
The artist Colin McCahon
Colin McCahon
Colin John McCahon was a prominent New Zealand artist. During his life he also worked in art galleries and as a university lecturer...
(1919–1987) lived in Oamaru in 1930–1931, attending the Middle School. The place and the North Otago landscape made an impression on him. He revisited the area several times as an adult on painting trips. Cartoonist John Kent
John Kent (cartoonist)
John Kent was a New Zealand cartoonist who is best known as the author of the Varoomshka comic strip in the English newspaper The Guardian during the 1970s....
, who authored the Varoomshka
Varoomshka
Varoomshka was a satirical comic strip by John Kent that appeared in The Guardian in 1969 and ran throughout the 1970s. The young woman Varoomshka was an Everywoman used by Kent to poke fun at the prominent British politicians of the day such as Harold Wilson and Edward Heath...
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, hailed from Oamaru.
A strong community of living artists , and many dealer galleries have premises in the historic precinct. One of the town's principal living artists, Donna Demente
Donna Demente
Donna Demente is a New Zealand artist. She is a 1987 graduate of the University of Auckland's Elam School of Fine Arts. She specialises in extreme close-up portraiture, with the emphasis on eyes, and also works with masks. Her style is heavily influenced by mediaeval art...
, produces portraits and masks. At least partly through her work Oamaru hosts an annual mask festival each July, the "Midwinter Masquerade". Another annual celebration, a Victorian Heritage fête, takes place in November.
Other noted former Oamaruvians include broadcaster Jim Mora
Jim Mora (broadcaster)
James Mora is a New Zealand media personality.Jim Mora was born in Christchurch, and began his broadcasting career on radio in Dunedin, where he had studied at the University of Otago...
and hockey player Scott Anderson
Scott Anderson (field hockey)
Scott Warren Anderson is a former field hockey goalkeeper from New Zealand, who finished in eighth position with the Men's National Team, nicknamed Black Sticks, at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. He was born in Oamaru....
.
Some points of interest
Oamaru stone
Oamaru stone is a hard, compact limestone, quarried at Weston, near Oamaru in Otago, New Zealand.The stone is used for building purposes, especially where ornate moulding is required. The finished stonework has a creamy, sandy colour...
. The southern part of Oamaru's main business district ranks as one of New Zealand's most impressive streetscapes due to the many prominent buildings constructed from this material. This and another part of the town close to the harbour have been preserved as historic precincts.
Most of the streets in Oamaru take their names from rivers in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, particularly rivers in the northwest and southeast of the country. The main retail and commercial areas line Thames Street; State Highway 1 running south follows Severn Street, and historic commercial buildings dominate Tyne Street.
A colony of little blue penguins
Little Penguin
The Little Penguin is the smallest species of penguin. The penguin, which usually grows to an average of in height and in length , is found on the coastlines of southern Australia and New Zealand, with possible records from Chile.Apart from Little Penguins, they have several common names...
lives on the harbour, and a colony of yellow-eyed penguin
Yellow-eyed Penguin
The Yellow-eyed Penguin or Hoiho is a penguin native to New Zealand. Previously thought closely related to the Little Penguin , molecular research has shown it more closely related to penguins of the genus Eudyptes...
s just south of the town attracts ecotourists
Ecotourism
Ecotourism is a form of tourism visiting fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas, intended as a low impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial tourism...
. Penguins sometimes live under buildings close to the beach, including the town's music club, The Penguin Club.
Oamaru is the eastern gateway to the Mackenzie Basin
Mackenzie Basin
The Mackenzie Basin , is an elliptical intermontane basin, located in the Mackenzie and Waitaki Districts, near the centre of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the largest such basin in New Zealand...
, via the Waitaki Valley.
Shibboleth
Shibboleth
A shibboleth is a custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a particular class or group of people, especially a long-standing one regarded as outmoded or no longer important...
: The southern (Kāi Tahu) dialect of Māori
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
ignores the first A in the name (AUH-muh-ROO). Northern Māori speakers prefer to stress the A (o-UH-muh-ROO). Thus one can guess whether a speaker comes from Otago — as in the audio here — or from further north.
Media
The Oamaru MailOamaru Mail
The Oamaru Mail is a daily newspaper published Monday to Friday in Oamaru, New Zealand.It was first published in 1876 and serves the North Otago area. It has a readership of about 10,000. Its circulation area stretches from Waimate in the north down through Oamaru to Palmerston and to Otematata in...
, published from Mondays to Fridays, has its base in Oamaru as well as the Waitaki Herald, both Wednesdays and Fridays. The town is within the coverage area of Radio Dunedin
Radio Dunedin
Radio Dunedin is a radio station, broadcasting from Dunedin on 1305 AM and 99.8 FM. It is rated number 1 for 'Share of Commercial Radio Listening in Dunedin' in the Radio Audience Measurement Survey....
and within the circulation area of the Otago Daily Times
Otago Daily Times
The Otago Daily Times is a newspaper published by Allied Press Ltd in Dunedin, New Zealand.-History:Originally styled The Otago Daily Times, the ODT was first published on November 15, 1861. It is New Zealand's oldest surviving daily newspaper - Christchurch's The Press, six months older, was a...
, based in Dunedin. Oamaru has its own community television
Community television
Australia's Community Television is a form of Citizen media much like Public Access Television in the United States and the Community Channel in Canada...
station, "45 South Television", which transmits from Cape Wanbrow on UHF channel 41.
Transport
Oamaru will be the end point of the Alps to Ocean Cycle TrailAlps to Ocean Cycle Trail
The Alps to Ocean Cycle Trail is a cycle trail funded as one of the projects of the New Zealand Cycle Trail system in Otago and Canterbury, New Zealand...
from Aoraki/Mount Cook
Aoraki/Mount Cook
Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand, reaching .It lies in the Southern Alps, the mountain range which runs the length of the South Island. A popular tourist destination, it is also a favourite challenge for mountain climbers...
, the trail to be constructed in the following years after approval in 2010 by the New Zealand Cycle Trail project.
Cultural references
Janet FrameJanet Frame
Janet Paterson Frame, ONZ, CBE was a New Zealand author. She wrote eleven novels, four collections of short stories, a book of poetry, an edition of juvenile fiction, and three volumes of autobiography during her lifetime. Since her death, a twelfth novel, a second volume of poetry, and a handful...
fictionalised the Oamaru of her childhood as "Waimaru".
Peter F. Hamilton
Peter F. Hamilton
Peter F. Hamilton is a British author. He is best known for writing space opera. As of the publication of his tenth novel in 2004, his works had sold over two million copies worldwide.- Biography :...
's novel The Dreaming Void
The Dreaming Void
The Dreaming Void is a science fiction novel by British writer Peter F. Hamilton, the first in his Void Trilogy.-Plot summary:At the centre of the Milky Way galaxy an object called the Void resembles a massive black hole. The Void is not a natural system. Inside there is a strange universe where...
(London: Macmillan, 2007; ISBN 978-1-4050-0) refers to " ... the backwater External World of Oamaru" (page 22).