‘TODAY’S HERITAGE OBJECT IS YESTERDAY’S DEVELOPER’S VISION’
Jazzing up waterfronts has been a theme in most of our cities over the past decade. Wellington’s is probably the most spectacular example, but Kaiapoi and Wanganui operate restored heritage vessels and Hokitika has a waterfront historical walk.
Oamaru has taken longer to wake up and smell the short black, but it holds a powerful hand. No other New Zealand town can match the richness and integrity of its wharves and waterfront buildings.
It is now the subject of a book reviewing its history as a typical provincial port, Kiwitown’s Port, by marine historian Gavin McLean. A politician inspecting Oamaru’s first wharves prophesied that its docks would one day rival those of London. The ‘progress industry’of the late nineteenth century, fuelled by the frozen meat trade, was reshaping New Zealand’s destiny.
Oamaru built its entire port from scratch, bankrupting itself in the process and being condemned by the Financial Times in London for constructing ‘works quite beyond the needs of their business...in the true colonial way.’
In this beautifully illustrated book, the author revisits his hometown. He shows how its tempestuous history demonstrates our dependence on the sea. The need for a sheltered port (‘breakwaters or bust!’), the need to dredge ever-deeper harbours as ships increased in size, the need to attract ‘Home’boats loading cargo for London, the need to pay for it all – and the disastrous storms and shipwrecks which dashed the town’s hopes along the way – have given way to a region now based on viticulture, dairying and tourism. As the author says, ‘Today’s heritage object is yesterday’s developer’s dream.’
Gavin McLean, senior historian at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, has written many books, including The Governors (2006), How to Do Local History (2007) and Oamaru 1878: A Colonial Town (2006). Other recent books include Frontier of Dreams (co-edited with Bronwyn Dalley) in 2005 and Heartlands: New Zealand Historians Write About Places Where History Happened (co-edited with Kynan Gentry) in 2006.
Kiwitown’s Port - ISBN 978 1 877372 63 6
Price: NZ$40.00
Further information David Howard, Otago University PressEmail: mailto:publicity@otago.ac.nz Ph. (64 03) 479 9094
