Steampunk Oamaru
On Thursday, I featured an interview with Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris, co-authors of the steampunk novel, Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel.
(And by the way, the giveaway for that interview will run until midnight today, NZ time—just post a comment on the interview, here, to be in the draw.)
In the interview, I described the steampunk subgenre of SFF as “… speculative fiction … that draws on an alternate 19th century milieu, effectively imagining continuation of the mechanical age.”
Pip Ballantine, like Phoenix Rising heroine Eliza D Braun, is a New Zealander—so it may come as no surprise to learn that New Zealand has its very 19th century milieu where speculative continuation of the mechanical age is celebrated. Yes, I am talking about “steampunk Oamaru” aka “Whitestone Oamaru.”
You can find out more about Steampunk Oamaru at Steampunk HQ here and check out The League of Victorian Imagineers (don’t you just love that name?), here, including the forthcoming 2011 Tomorrow As It Used To Be exhibition, here, and the Steampunk Short Film Festival.
And there was a steampunk Fashion Show & Gala Ball earlier in the year (and again next year, I’m sure!)
Just for a bit of background—why did I say “aka Whitestone Oamaru?” Although in fact, I could equally well have said: Victorian Oamaru, or Historic Oamaru because the small seaside city of Oamaru contains New Zealand’s most intact Victorian precinct, characterised not just by individual buildings, but a small area of intact streetscapes. And the “whitestone?” That’s because from highly decorated Victorian bank facades, through pubs, to wool and grain stores, these buildings are all constructed from the local “whitestone”—limestone that is quarried from near the town.
Over the past 25 years, The Whitestone Civic Trust, together with the Waitaki District Council, has done tremendous work, not just to preserve the precinct but also to create a thriving Victorian “town at work” within it, a wonderful Heritage Week celebration—check out the Penny Farthing races here—and now the spinoff celebration of steampunk. What’s there to say, except that it’s all good!
Oamaru’s not just about heritage though—there’s little blue penguins to be seen in the evenings, nearby Moeraki with its famous boulders— and also Fleur’s Place for great food ambience—and the Forrester Art Gallery which always has some very good exhibitions to see.
In fact, Historic Oamaru is an all round good place to visit—even without the steampunk. I love it, but I have to admit that the steampunk adds just that extra touch of fun!