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All New Zealand Oamaru Steampunk HQ

Steampunk HQ

The premier place to experience the Victorian imagining of the steam-powered future.

Oamaru, New Zealand

Added By
Orane Reuland
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The Steampunk HQ zeppelin.   Oren Rozen/CC BY-SA 3.0
The Steampunk HQ zeppelin.   Oren Rozen/CC BY-SA 3.0
The Steampunk Engine.   Pseudopanax/Public Domain
Steampunk HQ building with its engine.   Bryce Edwards/CC BY 2.0
Detail of the train   Gavin / Atlas Obscura User
The Portal   Lucy Beams / Atlas Obscura User
  Auxburg / Atlas Obscura User
The Aethertractor at Steampunk HQ.   Pseudopanax/Public Domain
Steampunk vehicles and an alien driver.   Pseudopanax/Public Domain
Steampunk objects.   Pseudopanax/Public Domain
Machinery at Steampunk HQ.   Pseudopanax/Public Domain
An outfitted train car at Steampunk HQ.   amanderson2/CC BY 2.0
Steampunk HQ   Lucy Beams / Atlas Obscura User
Inside the gadget room   Lucy Beams / Atlas Obscura User
Inside the gadget room   Lucy Beams / Atlas Obscura User
  Michael Reinhardt / Atlas Obscura User
The Portal   Lucy Beams / Atlas Obscura User
  Michael Reinhardt / Atlas Obscura User
  Michael Reinhardt / Atlas Obscura User
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About

For the uninitiated, steampunk is a branch of science fiction/fantasy that imagines an alternative industrial future that diverged from our past somewhere in the Victorian era, at the height of steam-powered technology. In this retro future, cogs and gears power aether machines and zeppelin is the preferred method of air travel.

Perhaps the single best place to experience the imagined steampunk world is in the small coastal town of Oamaru, New Zealand. Oamaru boomed economically during the 1800s, and so its buildings serve as the perfect setting for a steampunk playground with bountiful neoclassical and Victorian style architecture. It's here you'll find Steampunk HQ, located in an 1883 grain elevator.  

It's hard to say exactly what the headquarters are. The massive warehouse contains exhibits that are equal parts art show and haunted house-style walkthrough. A locomotive and an old blimp act as Steampunk HQ signs outside the building. One exhibition, called "The Portal," introduces visitors to time-and-space travelers and their copper, pipe-laden vehicles. A piece of equipment called the "Metagalactic Pipe Organ" allows people to play extraterrestrial sounds picked up by the HQ officers on their time jumps. 

There are also short films played at Steampunk HQ, as well as events and parties. Next door is The Libratory, an extension of Steampunk HQ. It's a library and art gallery dedicated to the history of steampunk, where artists show their wares and model their designs. Not only does it connect past and present, but it connects the whole Oamaru community. It's become an entire steampunk town.

Related Tags

Steampunk Science Fiction Art Retro Tech Retrofuturistic
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Added By

oranereuland

Edited By

Molly McBride Jacobson, Lucy Beams, Gavin, Auxburg...

  • Molly McBride Jacobson
  • Lucy Beams
  • Gavin
  • Auxburg
  • Michael Reinhardt

Published

October 17, 2016

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  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk_HQ
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oamaru
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Libratory
Steampunk HQ
1 Itchen Street
Oamaru
New Zealand
-45.102396, 170.969787
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