After a century of pillage and plunder, mother nature is still giving over great blocks of magnificent Oamaru stone. Today a century old quarry named Parkside, satisfies New Zealand’s interest in this special building material, other North Otago quarries having since closed. Parkside was the source of stone for Oamaru’s Opera house, but the lust for the white stone began as early as the 1860s, with many of Oamaru’s business area benefiting, and later other significant buildings throughout New Zealand as the means to transport the stone improved.
Post earthquake Christchurch is a market for Oamaru Stone as the Arts Centre is rebuilt using the same materials as original. Blocks of the white gold have been trucked to the Centre for stonemasons to work with onsite.
The stone is sometimes used in combination with the more hard-wearing bluestone basalt found in many parts of the southern South Island. Oamaru stone is popular with sculptors because it is easy to use. The Limestone is sliced from the quarry floor by 2.3 meter tungsten tipped circular saws powered by Caterpillar excavators. Oamaru Stone is supplied sawn, split or bolstered. The massive two tonne blocks are then carted from the vast natural amphitheatre created by decades of quarrying, to the cutting shed. The quarry can be visited on a formal tour or by signing in at the office.
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