Mokihinui () is a lightly populated locality on the West Coast of New Zealand's

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

. Mokihinui is on the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...

coastline north of Westport and is on the southern side of the

Mōkihinui River The Mōkihinui River is a river located on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island, about 40 kilometres north of Westport. Meridian Energy had proposed the Mokihinui Hydro project on the river in 2007 but it was cancelled in May 2012. In ...

's mouth, the third largest river on the West Coast. Once known as Waimarie, its official name is currently Mokihinui (without a

macron Macron may refer to: People * Emmanuel Macron (born 1977), president of France since 2017 * Brigitte Macron (born 1953), French teacher, wife of Emmanuel Macron * Jean-Michel Macron (born 1950), French professor of neurology, father of Emmanuel ...

), although it is named after the Mōkihinui River (officially spelled with a macron since 2019). Mokihinui is situated between the sea and the foothills of the Glasgow Range and State Highway 67 passes through Mokihinui just before reaching its northern end on the other side of the river.

Statistics New Zealand Statistics New Zealand (), branded as Stats NZ, is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the collection of statistics related to the economy, population and society of New Zealand. To this end, Stats NZ produces New Zealand c ...

includes Mokihinui in a statistical area of the same name that covers both the locality itself and its neighbours such as

Seddonville Seddonville is a lightly populated locality on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is most famous for the historical role it played in New Zealand's coal mining industry. Geography Seddonville is in the isolated north of the Wes ...

and Summerlea. According to the

2013 New Zealand census The 2013 New Zealand census was the thirty-third national census. "The National Census Day" used for the census was on Tuesday, 5 March 2013. The population of New Zealand was counted as 4,242,048 – an increase of 214,101 or 5.3% over the 20 ...

, Mokihinui has a population of 186, an increase of 15 people since the 2006 census. Mokihinui's population increases during

whitebait Whitebait is a collective term for the immature fry of fish, typically between long. Such young fish often travel together in schools along coasts, and move into estuaries and sometimes up rivers where they can be easily caught using fine-mes ...

season, when visitors come to fish in the Mōkihinui River's mouth. In the early 1890s, a

branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...

railway from Westport was opened to Mokihinui; it ultimately ran through to Seddonville and was known as the

Seddonville Branch The Seddonville Branch, later truncated as the Ngākawau Branch, is a branch line railway in the West Coast, New Zealand, West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island. Construction began in 1874 and it reached its terminus at the Mokihinui ...

. Passengers were carried on

mixed train A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. In some countries, the term refers to a freight train carrying various different types of freight rather a single commodity. Although common in the ...

s until trains became freight-only on 14 October 1946. The line continued to operate until the end of the 1970s, when the coal mining activity that provided almost the sole freight on the line declined to such a point that revenue was lower than maintenance costs. The railway closed north of

Ngakawau Hector and Ngakawau are two lightly populated settlements located at the mouth of the Ngākawau River in the West Coast region of New Zealand. Both settlements are situated on State Highway 67 between Westport and Karamea. Despite a low popul ...

on 3 May 1981 and traces of its

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondary ...

can be seen in the countryside around Mokihinui.David Leitch and Brian Scott, ''Exploring New Zealand's Ghost Railways'', rev. ed. (Wellington: Grantham House, 1998), 52-4.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mokihinui Buller District Populated places in the West Coast Region