A heartbroken family are mourning the loss of 5-year-old Ruby Jay Marris after a car crash involving a foreign driver in Otago.

"We thought we had it covered''. An investigation has been launched into what caused a steam train to start 21 fires south of Oamaru.

How to heat a castle? That was the challenge for Christchurch engineer Alan Cooke when he got the job at Riverstone Castle being built by Dot Smith outside Oamaru.

Two child car seats and a handbag were all that were left when a mother's car was allegedly stolen by a young hitchhiker she'd picked up.

A Maheno teenager is fighting for his life after being struck by a milk tanker near Maheno in Otago early yesterday.

A young man spent hours in near freezing conditions after leaving a hunting group in bush near Oamaru, early this morning, drunk and with no shoes.

The historic Oamaru Courthouse is to be disposed of, a decision that has been greeted with surprise and disappointment in the town.

Two cars were shunted off the back of a truck and another was badly damaged when a driver failed to correctly judge the height of an overbridge in Oamaru today.

A transgender Oamaru woman sentenced on Wednesday to nine months' imprisonment in a men's jail could apply to be moved to a women's prison.

'They made a courageous decision not to escape,' said police of supermarket staff in Oamaru who tried to calm a knife-wielding burglar.

A police officer talked a man into surrendering after he broke into an Oamaru supermarket with a firearm this morning.

A 71-year-old man will appear in court on 95 charges of historical sexual offending against 10 boys.

Life is never dull on the road with Grant the Cook, writes Jason Burgess.

An Oamaru man serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of a pensioner has had his parole postponed for two years.

Archaeologists yesterday battled against the tide to rescue 14th century moa bones from a "significant" historical settlement at Awamoa Creek, south of Oamaru.

It is likely a case review for those jointly accused of murdering dairy worker Justin Conrad McFarlane will be delayed by the Crown, as police continue to investigate the 35-year-old's death.

The four men charged with murdering North Otago farm worker Justin McFarlane will appear in the High Court at Timaru this morning.