Oamaru Radical
By Helen Frances
Oamaru bookbinder, Michael O’Brien must be one of New Zealand’s most consistently retro dressers. When I wander into his shop in the Oamaru Historic Precinct he is wearing what he calls a pre-tartan kilt (no clan’s tartan), which forms the bottom half of his Jacobite outfit. He says tartan did not become “trendy” until George IV of England repealed the Act of Proscription, which banned highland dress following the Jacobite uprisings in 1746.
“When the Act was repealed 40 years later the people said – Oh it’s OK to be Scottish now and to wear tartan. It’s wonderfully romantic and trad. So they go off to the weaver and claim a tartan for themselves.”
The Jacobean look is his latest and most historically regressive fashion phase. He went Jacobite as part of “getting into the period” during a lengthy binding process for the book Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray.
“The film of the book was the customer’s favourite movie so I wasn’t allowed to read the book,” he says, “but I watched the film time and time again [the binding had to relate to the film]. This is partly why I’m 18th century now, because I’ve had to immerse myself in that time period.”
Today Michael is not binding books, despite a four-year long customer waiting list. He is filing a cow horn to use as a 30-gram powder measure for his Highland pistol. He lost the original on an expedition up Dansey’s Pass.
An ex-Aucklander, Michael decided a long time ago that he needed to find a place in his own country that spoke to him of his Northern European roots. In the land of the “Aucks” (which he pronounces “orcs” with reference to the Lord of the Rings), he says people didn’t appreciate the authenticity of his style.
“In Auckland I rode around on a black, 1930’s push bike, and as a bookbinder going to work I wore a frock coat and a homburg hat. People’s reactions to me were pretty extreme.”
He has an explanation for “this retro going back in time thing”.
“I was adopted and my parents were of the World War II generation. Their scrap books were full of the 1920s, 30s and 40s. I was locked into that. But I also went through phases of wearing baggy shorts, sandals and Hawaiian shirts.”
In Oamaru he says he is trying to change the world.
“What I want is to have a community of crafts people so we can inter-trade with each other. If we had a farmer, a shearer, a spinner, a dyer, a weaver and a tailor you would wear locally produced clothing. In the new world, which I call the new dark ages, there wouldn’t be much room for designers as the crafts people would do it themselves.”
He wants to restore the whole town and sees tourism as the necessary by-product of having a heritage town.
“There is a small number of passionate locals who see the potential here, and many have moved to Oamaru for that reason. It’s all about aesthetics, getting things right and doing it well.”
But Michael believes that New Zealanders need to hone their sense of aesthetics. Steel window frames and concrete don’t look well among 120 year old stone buildings, he says, and he has made a list of buildings along the main street that don’t fit for these reasons.
Michael is part of the Whitestone Artists’ Collective, many of whom have their work space and shops in the precinct. His wife runs the Victorian style second-hand bookshop next door to his business/workshop at 7 Tyne Street. Like many of the shop owners in the precinct she gets around in long 19th century dresses to complete the Dickensian picture of the town’s Victorian work theme.
And as if living in the past were not enough for Michael and family, they have added a spot of magic. The wizard of Christchurch, who has recently moved to Oamaru, is their daughter’s godfather.
“I persuaded the wizard he needed to leave flat land,” says Michael.
Flight may not yet be in the wizard’s repertoire, but with the airport re-opening in Oamaru visitors can now travel by plane to see the transformations wrought by Michael and other historical enthusiasts who are re-dressing Oamaru’s past.
Other Places of Interest
Janet Frame’s Cottage
The Red Shed - forge, sculptors, trug basket maker and other crafts
Steam Train Ride to the Red Shed
Little Blue penguins
Whitestone Cheese factory
Oamaru Art gallery
Fantastic views of sea coast
Oamaru’s Historic Precinct
Built largely in the 1880s and 1890s, the Historic Precinct is touted to be New Zealand's most complete Victorian streetscape. The buildings have their own unique style and decoration and are built from the locally quarried limestone. The Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust is working to restore the Precinct.
