Coming upon Oamaru by chance and finding little to recommend it immediately, the author was soon falling under the spell of the place. With a relaxed but informative style, he takes us through the history of the town and invigorates it with the human interest stories behind the names. William Valpy's pioneering trek from Christchurch to Oamaru. More about the man who wrote colonial classic The Boy Colonists. The meteoric rise and eventual fall of George Sumpter and tales of dozens of other North Otago legends, from wealthy runholders to beguiling swaggers, Janet Frame to local historians and the present mayor. They may not all be new stories but by entwining his research with the sometimes bemused commentary of a visitor from a distance, David Harbourne has produced a fine amalgam of fact, whimsy and good writing.
Modern Oamaru is covered in a compendium of personal experiences involving most of the attractions which bring today's tourists. The Victorian Precinct, the penguins, Totara Estate and Clark's Mill, the stately homes and the world of Steampunk.
What lifts the book far above being a collection of brochures is the gregarious author's seeking out of the people involved in all these ventures.
The list of these Oamaruvians who care so much about their town is too long to run here, but the chapter outlining bookbinder and heritage enthusiast Michael O'Brien's vision for the Victorian Precinct is just one which will gel with many readers.
There are a few annoying typos among the place names ("Fort" Chalmers. "Waiteke" and "Homes" wharf) but such blips are well compensated for by discovering that the irrepressible and fiercely independent Fleur Sullivan, of Moeraki, prefers "Fleurs Place" without an apostrophe. You will also discover and want to know more about Charlotte Evans, who just may have been our first female novelist. Helpfully, the author directs us to a thesis with biographical information. There is obviously more to discover about Oamaru. Why is a Tyne St building from 1877 called the Union Offices and was William Southan, of the North Otago Family and Commercial Hotel, the man who wrote one of the worst (but one of my favourite) New Zealand novels? And who will pull down the ugly squash courts in Tyne St and build a replica of the glorious bank chamber that once stood there?
The whitestone town has many more stories and David Harbourne would tell them superbly. I look forward to his next love letter to Oamaru.
- Jim Sullivan is a Patearoa writer.
