Pages tagged with: oamaru

Ports were the beachheads of colonial expansion. No town could prosper without one. Oamaru Harbour, which closed to shipping in 1974, is the best place in the country to see how and why all New Zealanders once depended so heavily on sea transport.

European settlement at Oamaru began in 1853, and in the 1860s the town grew rich servicing pastoralists and gold miners. Oamaru, though, was no port. Cape Wanbrow, a stubby little headland, gave some shelter from southerly winds but none from easterlies.

The disastrous storm of 1868 forced Oamaru to invest in the construction of expensive concrete breakwaters and new larger wharves.

Oamaru's shipping tonnages rose after the First World War, but the port faced tough times as coastal shipping slumped from the 1960s.

Although Oamaru no longer has an active port, tourism has brought new opportunities to the town and its harbour.

These slides of Oamaru's port illustrate the impact of the dramatic growth in the size of ships between the 1870s and 1900s

These slides present a sample of heritage items and sites around Oamaru Harbour, and highlight some recent heritage controversies

The Oamaru Harbour Board centennial plaque lists the port’s milestones

A fully rigged ship is berthed at Sumpter Wharf, and the dredge Progress lies off the wharf, probably in the 1890s.

In the 1880s Oamaru Habour was a forest of bowsprits and spars.

The mast of the brigantine Robert and Betsy, wrecked in 1862, is a reminder of Oamaru port’s dark past.

In April 1939 the 10,107-ton New Zealand Shipping Company cargo liner Opawa became the biggest ship to visit Oamaru.

This tranquil scene at Oamaru Harbour, looking towards Sumpter Wharf from the boat club jetty, was taken in 2006

Small fishing launches such as the Waitaki, seen here, are now the main commercial users of Oamaru's slipway.

This image shows Oamaru Harbour around 1900.

By the late 1880s Oamaru's North Mole and long breakwater enclosed a complex of wharves.

Oamaru's landing service and surf boats in 1875

The traditional coasters Parera and Storm are berthed alongside Oamaru's Holmes Wharf in the 1960s.

View of Oamaru's port in 1912

A view of Oamaru's port, overlooking Friendly Bay, in 1925.

The brigantine Emulous was wrecked twice at Oamaru in 1872.

This image shows Warner Pacific’s Ata, a 67-ton trawler, entering the port on 30 January 1974.

Engineer F.W. Furkert’s 1933 plan for extending Oamaru's breakwater

Oamaru's long wooden station is typical of the stations built in major provincial centres around the turn of the 20th century.