While the historic Oamaru stone buildings already have national and international recognition, Bruce Comfort says there is also another treasure hidden in the inland hills and valleys.
That is the Oamaru borough race, built in the late 1870s to deliver drinking and firefighting water to the Ardgowan reservoir,and with extra capacity to power the town's growth with hydro electricity and water machines.
The Oamaru man has nominated the 47km-long race with its intake, settling pond, 20 aqueducts and six tunnels for registration by the Institution of Professional Engineers of New Zealand for listing as an engineering heritage structure.
The race was opened on September 2, 1880, and delivered Waitaki River water drawn from an intake near Duntroon for the town for 103 years until a major section east of Papakaio collapsed.
The former Oamaru Borough Council, rather than repair the break, decided to take water from the Lower Waitaki Irrigation Company at a race at Redcastle Rd, on the northern boundary of Oamaru, pumping it up to the Ardgowan reservoir.
Since then, ownership of the water race has been returned to adjacent landowners.
For the past three years, Mr Comfort has researched the history of the race, walked most of its length and interviewed farmers or descendants of farmers through properties it passed. He has also talked to families who were associated with the up to seven men who maintained the race.
However, he is surprised at how few photographs, particularly those showing construction of the race, he has managed to turn up, and would like to hear from anyone who has them available.
He believes the race is "quite special" both in engineering terms and the foresight of the council which built it, although its $272,000 cost, funded by a high interest loan from London, virtually bankrupted the town for decades.
"The borough race is not well known in Oamaru, but it is an amazing piece of Victorian engineering," Mr Comfort said.
"Its design and construction was a spectacular feat, a marvellous piece of foresight and entrepreneurship that enabled Oamaru to have a water-powered economy ahead of most other towns in New Zealand."
He hopes to raise awareness of the race and its heritage values by conducting tours during the Oamaru Victorian Heritage Celebrations in November.
The project came about as Oamaru expanded and household tanks, nearby creeks and springs could not meet the demand for water.
