Oamaru

Oamaru Te Oha-a-Maru
Town
Oamaru from S Hill Walk
Oamaru Oamaru's location within New Zealand
Coordinates: 45°05′03″S 170°58′50″E / 45.08417°S 170.98056°E / -45.08417; 170.98056Coordinates: 45°05′03″S 170°58′50″E / 45.08417°S 170.98056°E / -45.08417; 170.98056
Country	New Zealand
Region	Otago
Territorial authority	Waitaki District
Ward	Oamaru
Government
• Mayor	Gary Kircher
Area
• Total	53.04 km2 (20.48 sq mi)
Population (June 2016)
• Total	13,850
• Density	260/km2 (680/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Oamaruvian
Time zone	NZST (UTC+12)
• Summer (DST)	NZDT (UTC+13)
Post code	9400
Area code	03

Oamaru (ⁱ/ɒməˈruː/; (Māori: Te Oha-a-Maru), the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is 80 kilometres south of Timaru and 120 kilometres north of Dunedin, on the Pacific coast, and State Highway 1 and the railway Main South Line connect it to both. With a population of 13,850, Oamaru is the 28th largest urban area in New Zealand, and the third largest in Otago behind Dunedin and Queenstown.

The name Oamaru derives from Māori words meaning the place of Maru (compare with Timaru). The identity of Maru remains open to conjecture.

There are some important archaeological sites around Oamaru. Those at the Waitaki River mouth and at Awamoa both date from the Archaic (Moa-hunter) phase of Māori culture, when New Zealand's human population clustered along the south-east coast from about AD 1100. The Waitaki River mouth had at least 1,200 ovens. Awamoa saw the first archaeological excavation in New Zealand when W.B.D. Mantell dug there at Christmas 1847 and in 1852. Smaller Archaic sites exist at Cape Wanbrow and at Beach Road in central Oamaru. The distinctive Archaic art of the Waitaki Valley rock shelters dates from this period — some of it presumably made by the occupants of these sites. The area also features Classic and Protohistoric sites, from after about AD 1500, at Tamahaerewhenua, Tekorotuaheka, Te Punamaru, Papakaio and Kakanui.