Bank of New South Wales

The Bank of New South Wales (Former), designed by pre-eminent architect Robert Arthur Lawson in 1882, stands as a landmark building on Thames Street in Oamaru.

The first Bank of New South Wales opened in Tyne Street, close to the bustling harbour precinct in the mid-1870s, and by the early 1880s had negotiated for a new and prominent site in Thames Street, adjoining Lawson’s earlier architectural masterpiece, the National Bank (1870).

Designed with the commercial operation on the ground floor, with an additional basement level, and manager’s level on the first floor, the Bank of New South Wales operated in these premises until closure in 1979. 

The bank was designed by Dunedin architect R.A. Lawson, who was renowned for his church architecture but who also completed substantial commercial commissions as well, including the Bank of Otago, next door to the Bank of New South Wales site.

The Forrester Art Gallery is housed in a spectacular neo-classical building originally constructed in 1884 for the Bank of New South Wales. The site was acquired by the former Oamaru Borough Council and opened as a gallery in 1983 with the help of a substantial legacy from John M. Forrester (1865 -1965).

The Forrester, which is funded and administered by the Waitaki District Council, offers the Waitaki and wider region a varied and exciting exhibition programme, houses a growing collection of artworks significant to the region, and stands as an icon of Oamaru's unique whitestone historic district.