How do you pronounce Ōamaru?
It's been known as Om-a-ru for 100 years, why call it something else?
Te Runanga o Moeraki upoko David Higgins said the correct pronunciation of the name is Awe-ah-mah-roo."
"Ōamaru is a very ancient name and refers to some exploits of the ancestors," he said.
"Ōamaru can mean 'the breathe of Maru' or 'the place of Maru'.
"Before Europeans arrived here we didn't refer to the town as Ōamaru. Makotukutuku was the original name of the pa established atop the present Cape Wanbrow. Ōamaru itself was named after a campsite that was established near the Ōamaru creek. When the town was settled by Europeans more emphasis was placed on the name Ōamaru."
"Ōamaru could be O-a-maru, literally it can mean "the place of Maru", Maru being a deity related to the sea, or it could be Oha-a-maru, oha being gift or abundance.
"Maru might also be defined as shelter so that Ōamaru, and indeed Timaru (Te-Maru) might have been a place of shelter.
"The name may have derived from a temporary settlement used by one of my ancestors, Te Huruhuru, who used it as a fishing and eeling camp near the Waitaki river at what is now called Georgetown.
"The settlement was called Te Puna a Maru and is mentioned in many sources including Edward Shortland's journal The southern districts of New Zealand: a journal, with passing notices of the customs of the aborigines, and Atholl Anderson's Shortland, Edward 1812? - 1893; Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, updated 7 July 2005."