Editing Oamaru (section)

===European contact===
On 20 February 1770 [[James Cook]] in the ''[[HM Bark Endeavour|Endeavour]]'' reached a position very close to the Waitaki mouth and "about 3 Miles [5&nbsp;km] from the shore", according to his journal. He said the land "here is very low and flat and continues so up to the skirts of the Hills which are at least 4 or 5 Miles [6–8&nbsp;km] in land. The whole face of the Country appears barren, nor did we see any signs of inhabitants." He stayed on this part of the coast four days. Sydney Parkinson, the expedition's artist, described what seems to be Cape Wanbrow, in Oamaru. On 20 February he wrote "...we were near the land, which formed an agreeable view to the naked eye. The hills were of a moderate height, having flats that extended from them a long way, bordered by a perpendicular rocky cliff next to the sea."

Māori did live in the area, and [[seal hunting|sealers]] visited the coast in 1814. The [[Sealers' War|Creed manuscript]], discovered in 2003, records:
<blockquote>
Some of the [local] people [had been] absent on a feasting expedition to meet a great party from Taumutu, Akaroa, Orawenua [Arowhenua]. They were returning. The [sealers'] boat passed on to the Bluff 8 miles [13&nbsp;km] north of Moeraki where they landed & arranged their boat – & lay down to sleep in their boat. At night Pukuheke, father of Te More, went to the boat, found them asleep & came back to the other Natives south of the Bluff. They went with 100 [men] killing 5 Europeans & eat them. Two of the seven escaped through the darkness of the night & fled as far as Goodwood, Bobby's Head, after being 2 days and nights on the way.
</blockquote>

Pukuheke's party killed and ate these as well. The Pākehā, a party from the ''Matilda'' (Captain Fowler), under the first mate Robert Brown with two other Europeans and five lascars or Indian seamen, made eight in all, not seven as the manuscript says. They had been sent in an open boat from Stewart Island in search of a party of absconding lascars. Brown must have had some reason for searching for them on the North Otago coast.

After [[Te Rauparaha]]'s sack of the large [[pā (Māori)|pā (fortified settlement)]] at [[Kaiapoi]] near modern [[Christchurch]] in 1831, refugees came south and gained permission to settle at Kakaunui (Kakanui), and the territory between Pukeuri and Waianakarua, including the site of urban Oamaru, became their domain.<ref>{{Cite book
  |last1=Anderson |first1=Atholl |author1-link=Atholl Anderson
  |title=The Welcome of Strangers
  |publisher=Otago University Press  |location=Dunedin
  |year=1998
  |pages=90, 107
}}</ref>