The Ōpārau River is a river of the

Waikato Region The Waikato () is a Regions of New Zealand, region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton City, as well as ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

in the area occupied by

Ngāti Hikairo Waikato Tainui, Waikato or Tainui is a group of Māori ''iwi'' based in the Waikato Region, in the western central region of New Zealand's North Island. It is part of the larger Tainui confederation of Polynesian settlers who arrived to New Zeal ...

. It flows southwest from its sources in the

Pirongia Forest Park Pirongia Forest Park is a protected area southwest of Hamilton, New Zealand. It covers across four blocks of land - Pirongia (the largest), Te Maunga O Karioi Block, and the small Mangakino Block and Te Rauamoa Block. The park encompasses Moun ...

, the highest being The Cone, and flows into the

Kawhia Harbour Kawhia Harbour () is one of three large natural inlets in the Tasman Sea coast of the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located to the south of Raglan Harbour, Ruapuke and Aotea Harbour, 40 kilometres southwest of Hamilton, Ne ...

, east of

Kawhia Kawhia Harbour () is one of three large natural inlets in the Tasman Sea coast of the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located to the south of Raglan Harbour, Ruapuke and Aotea Harbour, 40 kilometres southwest of Hamilton, Ne ...

. The river has about of tributaries.

Name

The New Zealand

Ministry for Culture and Heritage The Ministry for Culture and Heritage (MCH; ) is the department of the New Zealand Government responsible for supporting the Creative New Zealand, arts, Culture of New Zealand, culture, New Zealand Historic Places Trust, built heritage, Sport Ne ...

gives translations of "place of many fortified villages" or "place of falsehood" for ''Ōpārau''. The

official name A legal name is the name that identifies a person for legal, administrative and other official purposes. A person's legal birth name generally is the name of the person that was given for the purpose of Civil registry, registration of the birth ...

was confirmed by

Gazette A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

as Ōpārau River on 21 June 2019.

Pollution

The river is naturally

turbid Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of both water clarity and wate ...

and had low to moderate levels of

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol P and atomic number 15. All elemental forms of phosphorus are highly Reactivity (chemistry), reactive and are therefore never found in nature. They can nevertheless be prepared ar ...

and nitrogen, though it is among the poorer rivers for

ammoniacal nitrogen Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pungent smell. It is widely used in fertilizers, ...

, black disc and

e coli ''Escherichia coli'' ( )Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus ''Escherichia'' that is commonly fou ...

measurements.

Nature

Tiritiri Matangi peninsula, in the river's estuary, is a protected area of international ecological significance, as it is an important stop for migratory seabirds.

Redfin bully The redfin bully (''Gobiomorphus huttoni'') is a species of freshwater fish in the family Eleotridae endemic to New Zealand. Being amphidromous, it spends part of its life cycle at sea. Males have distinctive bright red patterns and stripes on t ...

and kōaro are common fish in the river. Fragrant fern and Pānakenake grow in the valley.

Walks

Walking tracks around the upper catchment of the river are the Ōpārau Route, Bells Track and Hihikiwi Track (part of

Te Araroa Te Araroa (The Long Pathway) is New Zealand's long distance tramping route, stretching circa along the length of the country's two main islands from Cape Reinga to Bluff. Officially opened in 2011, it is made up of a mixture of previously m ...

long distance trail).

Roads and bridges

In 1885 the road crossing the river was only wide at Ōpārau. From about 1900 a coach ran for passengers between Kawhia and Te Awamutu, with a launch between Kawhia and Ōpārau. Ōpārau Ferry Bridge opened in 1913. In 1924 a concrete bridge was built over the Ōpārau to carry what is now SH31. Metalling of the road was completed in 1926. In 1938 the

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

mayor, John Fow, and Chamber of Commerce were reviewing plans for a new link to Kawhia. A route through the valley, via Kaniwhaniwha and Karamu was suggested and, by 1945, there was much backing for a long road on that route, which would have reduced the distance between Hamilton and Kawhia by about .

Hydroelectric

From 1923 Ōpārau was served by hydroelectric power, generated for the dairy by a turbine at Mangapapa Falls, about upstream from the village. A 1922 Order in Council allowed up to per second of water to be taken. The dairy opened in 1904.

School

Ōpārau village had a school from 1902 until it closed in 2006.

References

External links

Photos -
Landing shed and boat

Bridge, store and probably dairy factory about 1912

Bridge and landing shed about 1915

Remains of hydroelectric dam in 1984

Mangapapa Falls
Rivers of Waikato Rivers of New Zealand Ōtorohanga District {{coord, 38, 03, S, 174, 55, E, display=title, region:NZ_type:river_source:GNS-enwiki