Steampunk Oamaru meets Steampunk Melbourne (rear, from
left) Peter Fleury, of Dunedin, Helen Wilson, Bryce Taylor
and Barbara Chapman, all of Oamaru; (front, row, from left)
Nathalee Taylor, of Dunedin, Cassandra Edwards and Jeremy
Byrne, of Melbourne, and Helen Jansen, of The League of
Victorian Imagineers, from Oamaru. Photo supplied.
The record-breaking Steampunk exhibition at the Forrester
Gallery in Oamaru has attracted international attention, and
organisers of a similar event in Melbourne want to borrow some
of its exhibits.
"Steampunk: Tomorrow as it used to be" opened on October 23
and closed on Sunday, having had more than 11,000 visitors.
On Saturday and Sunday, 562 people visited the exhibition, as
a flurry of Oamaru residents and some from further afield
caught the last days of the hugely successful event.
Even yesterday, people were still visiting the gallery to see
what remained of the exhibition - some exhibits are being
kept upstairs.
The 11,000 visitors are the equivalent of 90% of the
population of Oamaru and half the total annual number of
visitors to the gallery.
Many people came from other parts of New Zealand to see the
exhibition and several stayed the night.
Local residents and business people felt that had been good
for the town.
"This is quite wonderful and it's all good for our district,"
Waitaki Mayor Alex Familton said.
Brian de Geest's full-sized steam locomotive outside the
gallery attracts crowds of local people and tourists every
night to watch it light up, make chilling whistles, eerie
chuffings and the skeletal driver laugh dementedly at his
audience.
Initiated by The League of Victorian Imagineers last year,
the event has almost doubled its visitor numbers in only 12
months.
Group leader Iain Clark said the exhibition had exceeded
everybody's expectations.
Last-minute visitors and leaders of a steampunk movement in
Melbourne, Cassandra Edwards and Jeremy Byrne, were impressed
and said many of the exhibits were world class. They want to
borrow some for their exhibition in Melbourne over New Year.
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