Editorial

Welcome to the first edition of the Coracle Oracle, The Friendly Bay Chronicle. This is your place to discover and share in activities, events and heritage of the Oamaru harbour area of New Zealand.

The Coracle Oracle is a free monthly, issued in print and online. The print version is available from the Oamaru Information Centre. Look for it too in places of interest around the harbour. The online version has its first home on the Internet at http://www.coracleoracle/blogspot.com.

This issue features the First Oamaru Coracle Race. A fleet of little boats, most made quickly from sticks and canvas, took to the water. Over 300 people came along to share the day.

Future issues will report highlight events, harbour people, places, life and work. Try out the maritime knots and recipes each month.

The Coracle Oracle is for everyone interested in our harbour life, visitors, residents, mariners and landlubbers, the active and the laid back. The supporting Internet sites give more detailed and specialised information, especially about historic craft and harbour features, as well as past issues.

Having a paper about the harbour alone is an innovation. Our harbour and its community are both small, but at times interest is intense. The big issues about the harbour make it into the regular press. Between the dramas the day to day activity around the harbour continues. People make their livelihoods there; for some it is their special place; other come to seek out attractions. All this we have in common with any other small town harbour. This doesn't make our harbour any less significant but instead joins us to communities of harbour people around the world.

Our harbour and its community are unique. The coracle event is the most recent instance of special things taking place here; building on a history of activity than binds people to the place, the community and the water. This event with its emphasis on a simple type of ancient craft with no New Zealand tradition associated with its use may seem of out of place, yet on the day one could not help but feel it was the most appropriate thing imaginable to occur in Friendly Bay and the times we live in.