Chairman's Update

The Precinct has had a busy winter season so far with the Oamaru Fire & Steam and Steampunk NZ Festival and the Oamaru on Fire event. These events have brought many locals and visitors to the area. The Trust thanks the organisers of these events and particularly the volunteers who gave up their time to help and support these unique events. The Trust has been participating in the workshops and committee meetings of the Oamaru Harbour Space Masterplan. There is certainly a strong community interest in this Harbour Plan and the Trust is always lobbying for the retention and preservation of the heritage items that give our harbour that special charm and robustness of a past busy working port and bringing that legacy into today’s needs for a destination for locals and visitors to enjoy the history, wildlife and recreational activities. The Tyne-Wansbeck Street intersection round-about appears to be working very well and the Trust was involved with the design and installation of the blue stone cobbles that are in the centre circle. This detail reflects a heritage fabric of the Precinct, now we just have to get some heritage light poles installed on the four corners. Thank you to our Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust members and volunteers - you are part of an organisation that is playing a major role in preserving New Zealand’s most intact Victorian architectural landscapes. Please encourage your friends and family to join us - check out our website: www.oamaruwhitestonecivictrust.org.nz Thank you also to our tenants and businesses in the precinct and harbour area. Winter time is always a difficult time but so far the weather has been very good. Please support one another and remember spring is not far away! I will leave you with Sir George Grey’s famous 1878 quote - ‘then as I looked at your buildings rising in stone of the utmost brilliance, of a kind I have never seen before, I thought, Oamaru is a fair maiden that sits by the sea’ Cheers Clarkie Graeme Clark – OWCT Chairman