Oamaru what?

Hello blog. Today’s post is something out of my comfort zone. Steam Punk. What does this mean you ask? The Wikipedia definition is:

My teacher assigned us to answer a question about steam punk. Mine is: “where is steam punk most popular?” I chose this because I wanted to know if the location on the map effects where and where not steam punk is popular. So, lets answer it.

As I started researching my question, I learnt that there is a capital of steam punk! It’s a farming town of Oamaru, on New Zealand’s South Island. The town before it was known as the capital was known for having the best preserved Victorian Architecture in the country, and its population of blue penguins. Such an odd place… But anyways… Earlier this month Oamaru made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for the “Largest Gathering of steam punks in the world.

Iain Clark also known as “Agent darling”, who is credited for launching steampunk in this town said the movement began to take hold in 2010. Many locals were suspicious, but according to Clark “it has been a particularly freeing for the creatives and artists in the community of Oamaru, to have adopted something like steampunk as a core part of their identity.” Local farmings started turning up in exhibitions intrigued bu the creative inventions on display,

Oamaru is home to 14 000 people, and well I guess you can say there in there own little steampunk Victorian world, which is pretty cool. “Being different is becoming the norm here. Something we celebrate.” -Iain Clark

 

Thanks to TheGaurdian.com for educating me on this cool place!