Oamaru, town and port, southeastern South Island, New Zealand. Its name comes from a Maori term meaning “place of sheltered fire.”
It was established as a grazing run in 1853. Situated on a small bay, the town began to improve its harbour in 1872. It is a commercial fishing centre and the chief port for the neighbouring coastal plain and the Waitaki River valley—areas of sheep, cattle, grain, and fruit farming. Its industries include dairy factories, freezing works, woolen and flour mills, and plants manufacturing concrete products, motor bodies, coal tar and gas, appliances, and furniture.
Oamaru lies on the highway between Christchurch and Dunedin and on the South Island Main Trunk Railway. It is the place of origin of the Corriedale sheep and was the site where in 1852 Walter B.D. Mantell discovered the remains of the moa, an extinct giant flightless bird that had been endemic to New Zealand. Pop. (2006) 12,681; (2012 est.) 13,000.