The Forrester Gallery

Unashamedly a regional gallery; the Forrester Gallery offers a collection focusing on contemporary and historic art works related to North Otago. The collection is housed in "one of the grandest neo-classical banks in New Zealand". The gallery's collection includes a number of early Colin McCahon works.

R A Lawson an important contributor to the classical Oamaru townscape was the architect. Thomas Forrester, designer of many of Oamaru's buildings initially came to Oamaru to supervise its construction. The gallery was established following a bequest by Thomas Forrester's son.