Oamaru (About this sound pronunciation (help·info)), the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is 80 kilometres south of Timaru and 120 kilometres north of Dunedin, on the Pacific coast, and State Highway 1 and the railway Main South Line connects it to both. Oamaru's historic status as the second centre in the Otago Region (after Dunedin) appears under threat from the growth of Queenstown in Central Otago. The Air New Zealand subsidiary Eagle Airways provides regular flights from Oamaru Airport to Christchurch.
The name Oamaru apparently derives from Māori words meaning the place of Maru (compare with Timaru). The identity of Maru remains open to conjecture.
