Mōkihinui River
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The Mōkihinui River is a river located 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 ...
, about 40 kilometres north of Westport. Meridian Energy had proposed the
Mokihinui Hydro The Mokihinui Hydro was a proposed hydroelectric dam and power station planned for conservation land on the Mōkihinui River on the West Coast of New Zealand. The project by Meridian Energy was expected to cost $300 million. In April 2010, re ...
project on the river in 2007 but it was cancelled in May 2012. In 2019, it was announced that of land in the Mōkihinui River catchment, including of river bed, would be added to
Kahurangi National Park Kahurangi National Park is a national park in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the second largest of the thirteen national parks of New Zealand. It was gazetted in 1996 and covers , ranging from the Buller River near Murc ...
. 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 a translation of "large flax-stalk raft" for ''Mōkihinui''. Since 2019 the official name of the river has been spelled with 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 ...
.


Geography

The Mōkihinui River's headwaters are located in the Glasgow Range and its mouth 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 ...
. There is little human habitation near the river: the localities of Mokihinui and Summerlea are near the river's mouth,
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 ...
is a few kilometres up the river, and just prior to its terminus, State Highway 67 crosses the river outside Mokihinui. In the rugged back country behind Seddonville at the Mōkihinui Forks, the river splits into two branches, north and south. The catchment of these two branches is a large inland basin of almost wholly unmodified forest. The total catchment area of the river is approximately , with upstream of Seddonville. The area was highly rated for its biodiversity values, but prior to 2019, it was classified as stewardship land − the lowest level of protection for publicly-owned conservation land. Following the cancellation of the proposed
Mokihinui Hydro The Mokihinui Hydro was a proposed hydroelectric dam and power station planned for conservation land on the Mōkihinui River on the West Coast of New Zealand. The project by Meridian Energy was expected to cost $300 million. In April 2010, re ...
project on the river in 2012, work began to add the catchment area to the adjacent
Kahurangi National Park Kahurangi National Park is a national park in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the second largest of the thirteen national parks of New Zealand. It was gazetted in 1996 and covers , ranging from the Buller River near Murc ...
. In 2019, of land in the Mōkihinui River catchment, including of river bed, were added to the national park. The addition increased the size of the park by 14%. The area added to the park includes part of the route of the Old Ghost Road, a mountain biking and hiking trail that follows a historic gold miners' route. Lake Perrine and Lake Dora are in the Mōkihinui Forks area. They are landslide lakes, dammed when slopes collapsed during the
1929 Murchison Earthquake The 1929 Murchison earthquake occurred at 10:17 am on 17 June. It struck the Murchison region of the South Island, with an estimated magnitude of 7.3, and was felt throughout New Zealand. There were 17 deaths, mostly as a result of landsli ...
. Lake Dora is long, up to wide and deep. Lake Perrine is now long, up to wide and deep. However, initially it dammed the river to a depth of at the entrance to the gorge, forming an lake. The earthquake created the dams on 17 June, but of the Lake Perrine dam washed out on 4 July 1929. It carried debris which formed a new temporary dam in the gorge below Seddonville. That water backed up until some buildings in Seddonville were flooded to their rooftops. The wooden hall floated about before bumping against a shop. It was replaced by the H. E. Holland Memorial Library. In an extreme weather event in December 2010, the flow in the river reached 2,853
cumecs Cubic metre per second or cubic meter per second in American English (symbol m3s−1 or m3/s) is the unit of volumetric flow rate in the International System of Units (SI). It corresponds to the exchange or movement of the volume of a cube with ...
. The estimated return period for this event is between 20 and 50 years. The flood caused significant property damage in the Seddonville area.


Culture

Ngāi Tahu Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori people, Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim, New Zealand, Blenhe ...
and Ngāti Waewae are the manawhenua tribes of the area.


Recreation

A tramping track called the Old Ghost Road runs along the south bank of the river giving access to
Kahurangi National Park Kahurangi National Park is a national park in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the second largest of the thirteen national parks of New Zealand. It was gazetted in 1996 and covers , ranging from the Buller River near Murc ...
. The river of interest for recreation and commercial
whitewater Whitewater forms in the context of rapids, in particular, when a river's Stream gradient, gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that foam, froths, making t ...
activities. There is three hours of grade III water downstream from where the north and south forks meet. A river level of 1.0–1.5 metres is an optimum flow.


Railway

The last few kilometres of the former
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 ...
railway roughly followed the Mōkihinui River near its mouth. The Branch opened on 23 February 1895 and closed on 3 May 1981, while a further extension beyond Seddonville to Mokihinui Mine closed in February 1974. During this period, the
New Zealand Railways Department The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR (New Zealand Government Railways) and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining Rail transport in New Zealand, New Zealand's railway infrastruc ...
dumped two old
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...
s along the river's banks between Seddonville and Mokihinui Mine to protect against erosion. The first of these locomotives, WB 292, was dumped in 1958, while sister WB 299 was dumped in January 1960. Both were recovered from the Mōkihinui River in 1989 by the Baldwin Steam Trust, and are under restoration at the Rimutaka Incline Railway."Steam locomotive Wb 299"
, accessed 17 January 2017


References

{{Kahurangi National Park Buller District Rivers of the West Coast Region Rivers of New Zealand Rivers of Kahurangi National Park