Oamaru has a rather interesting history. First settled in 1853, by 1870 it was already New Zealand's 7th largest town. Europeans had realised the potential for sheep farming in New Zealand in the mid 19th century, hence the huge numbers of settlers at this time. There was, however, the problem of exporting such a huge amount of meat back to the UK (and by this time, sheep farming was done on such a huge scale that there was a real need to export). It was in Oamaru that a ship was first installed with 'refrigeration' meaning thousands of lambs could make the three month journey back to the UK without going rotten. It used to be that any carcass that arrived in a rotten state would be disposed of and not paid for - farmers in New Zealand were losing a lot of money. However, on its first voyage, the refrigeration trial from Oamaru was so successful that only one carcass out of hundreds (perhaps a thousand?) was disposed of. Big news for sheep farming and big money for Oamaru. The local sandstone also played a big factor in making this such a prosperous Victorian town.
New Zealanders are very proud to have a town which boasts such wonderful Victorian architecture - for what is now such a small town, it certainly is unusual to be walking around such grandeur. In fact, Oamaru has the best preserved collection of historic commercial buildings in the whole country.
and there's an annual race held here in Oamaru.
This is a very creative town and we enjoyed strolling around the art galleries and workshops which are held in converted breweries, factories and mills. There seems to be artists and creative people everywhere we look in New Zealand so far - not least in Oamaru - and everyone has a project of sorts going on at home.
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