Faye Ormandy has retired after 15 years with the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust having spent the past eight years as heritage co-ordinator. Mrs Ormandy moved from Kakanui to Oamaru with her husband, Graeme, this year. Hamish MacLean caught up with Mrs Ormandy to talk about her time at the trust, which owns 15 buildings, including four category 1 buildings, in the Victorian Precinct.
What changes have you seen in the Victorian Precinct over 15 years?
The development of Harbour St, most importantly.
We didn't have a footpath.
A lot of the businesses weren't there.
There were very few businesses in Harbour St in those days, in the beginning.
The more recent development has been the input the council has had into the harbour, and into the playground, and that has just expanded it, really.
It has expanded. And I think that's been a very conscious aspiration of the trust: that it is seamless with Lower Thames St, and with the rest of the town.
The precinct is a registered area with Heritage New Zealand, so there is a special part of that area, that is the registered area, but likewise the harbour is a registered area with Heritage New Zealand.
It is that seamlessness with all of that.
It seems that it is very much a part of the identity of Oamaru and it really is at its centre.
Yes, and I think people have tremendous pride in it.
And the precinct and the harbour, that area, is where they bring their friends and family, and visitors, to see what Oamaru has to offer.
I think locals are just pretty proud of it.
What has the trust done recently that you are proud of? Are there things that have happened there that you think are key?
It goes back to the development of Harbour St, but one of the decisions that was made was that we would get as many doors open in the precinct as we possibly could.
So that has meant that there's businesses gone into places where we have had to develop spaces, we've broken spaces up so that more businesses could go into them.
Those sorts of things have happened.
These days the trust, when it has a change in tenancy, sometimes it might be the only opportunity it has for 20 years if the tenant has been there for a long time, to get in and do the work that needs to be done.
Because they were warehouses.
And a lot of them had either no facilities, or very very minimal facilities.
You haven't got ceilings in buildings, you've just got a big open warehouse.
It's adaptive reuse and how you make that into a good space for the tenant but also you don't lose what it really is, that they are warehouses.
So it's that balance of keeping both.
The trust has had a light touch in adding some of those facilities and things that need to be added: like a kitchen sink; like the bathroom facilities; like some storage.
But often it's done with a very light touch that could all be removed, because the buildings are all listed buildings.
And it's about not changing, too much, the inside of them and making them very modern, but keeping the character.
And respecting the heritage of the building.
In the building you're always looking at what might have been there originally, how the building was used originally.
That's interesting, because we're talking about ‘what has the trust done recently that makes you proud?', that's where we started, and what we're getting at, it sounds to me like you're saying it's an overall respect for the history.
Oh, absolutely, but I think it is getting those doors open. Breaking some of the places up into smaller spaces.
And having those doors open so that now someone can virtually zigzag down Harbour St.
What are your strongest memories from your time at the trust?
Fete Day. Getting through a Fete Day without the rain, that's one.
No, just the more festivals that we are having now.
The volunteers, the amount of work that they do, I think that's amazing.
I look at the Victorian Wardrobe, and it's a fabulous resource that this town has, and it's principally done by volunteers.
They hire out costumes all over the country for Victorian events, as well as for our heritage celebrations.
And there's a group of people within that, those people are very, very skilled costume-makers.
Their skill has been absolutely huge.
It's the volunteers; it's meeting visitors in the street, a lot of them would say, 'Look, we've come for the penguins, but we found the precinct.'
The tradespeople that I have worked with over the years, the Oamaru tradies have been absolutely superb.
Just people who have just gone out of their way to make my job on the whole much easier.
The tenants are immensely talented and committed people to their businesses.
They're just great.
The help from council for the trust, and of course the trustees.
They all bring something different to the trust.
I've worked with six chairmen of the trust.
They have all been amazing people.
And the trust members are great.
People are just really keen to help, which is nice.
You're one of the people that has spent the most time down there recently. Is there a best time of day? Are the mornings sweet?
If it's a sunny day, late afternoon is lovely in the summer.
Late afternoon in the summer, it's gorgeous.
If it's a real blue sky, no clouds, the buildings just look amazing against the blue sky.
One of my most memorable nights down there was from before I went to work with the trust and Helen Stead used to do "moonlight promenades'' and it was entertainment, but it was just using doorways and using odd nooks and crannies as a stage.
And one night Harbour St was full of puddles - Harbour St has been sealed twice in the time that I've been there and the footpath put in, but it was in a fairly sorry state, and huge puddles - and some stilt walkers came out of what we call Emulsion Lane as a deer and a fawn and they bent down, how they did it I don't know, to drink the puddle.
It was dark.
It was misty.
It was absolutely spell-binding.
It was amazing.
Nice nights too.
The lighting is attached to the buildings and it's quite diffuse and lovely.
Any advice for the trust moving forward?
I don't think that's my place to say too much about it going forward.
I think it's just staying in tune with the community there and the people in the precinct.
And just being true to what it's doing.
Do you think the Victorian Precinct is appreciated enough in Otago?
Oh yes, I think so.
And last weekend was a classic example.
I know some people were here because of the Steampunk weekend and Fire and Steam as well, but I think people see Oamaru as a destination, as a place to come for a weekend away.
There were a lot of people in the precinct.
I think Oamaru is well-known now.
And particularly say, in the last three or four years right through New Zealand, and punches way above its weight.
We have the harbour, which is a lovely harbour, there are a couple of places you can go there and have a meal and just sit and relax and watch it.
The playground is different from anywhere else.
The penguins obviously bring lots of people.
The cycle trail is bringing more and more people.
The public gardens are lovely gardens; the Opera House; Forrester Gallery.
We've got so many things that are absolutely superb.
What Don Paterson is doing at the Railway Station.
I've explained Oamaru to people as a bit like peeling an onion, there's just more and more layers.
And then you look during Heritage Celebrations and people in costume, last weekend and people in costumes, and didn't they look amazing?
The jazz festival is a great weekend.
There's just more and more of those festivals that I think the town can have.
And they give people a reason to come, and then they find there's more to do as well.
What's in the future for you?
I'm going to the Heritage Celebrations this year, because normally I would be organising a Victorian Fete, too busy to go to the garden party or anything like that.
This year I will do that.
We will be able to travel and spend more time with friends and family who don't live here, so we will be doing that.
Graeme and I lived for a long time in Australia so we are badly overdue for a holiday at least to catch up with very, very good friends over there.
I have endless unfinished projects.
We have recently moved into a house here, so there's plenty to do here.
We want to put our mark here.
Gardening.
Reading.
Sitting in the sun.
All those sorts of things.
And I still do some other work, I work for the Waitaki Power Trust.
And I've recently put my hand up and said I would be secretary of the Waitaki Tourism Association.
So, I will continue an interest with that.
Will you miss anything?
I'll let you know about that in a month's time.
