Ōkārito is a small coastal settlement on the West Coast of New Zealand's

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasma ...

, southwest of

Hokitika Hokitika is a town in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island, south of Greymouth, and close to the mouth of the Hokitika River. It is the seat and largest town in the Westland District. The town's estimated population is as of ...

, and from . It is built at the southern end of the

Ōkārito Lagoon Ōkārito Lagoon is a coastal lagoon on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is located south of Hokitika, and covers an area of about , making it the largest unmodified coastal wetland in New Zealand. It preserves a sequence of v ...

at the mouth of the

Ōkārito River The Ōkārito River is a river of the West Coast Region of New Zealand's South Island. It flows northwest from the northern end of Lake Mapourika, reaching the Ōkārito Lagoon 15 kilometres west of Whataroa. See also *List of rivers of New Zeal ...

. The settlement of The Forks is located just inland, on the banks of the river.

Name

Ōkārito's name is from the

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

, place of, and , the young shoots of the bulrush or

raupō ''Typha orientalis'', commonly known as bulrush, cumbungi, or raupō, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the genus ''Typha''. It is native to Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, China and the ...

(''Typha orientalis''), a valued food source. Another account has Ōkārito taking its name from a

rangatira In Māori culture, () are tribal chiefs, the hereditary Māori leaders of a hapū. Ideally, rangatira were people of great practical wisdom who held authority () on behalf of the tribe and maintained boundaries between a tribe's land and tha ...

named Kārito, whose daughters Mapourika and Wahapako gave their names to nearby

Lake Mapourika Lake Mapourika is located on the West Coast, New Zealand, West Coast of New Zealand, New Zealand's South Island. It lies north of Franz Josef Glacier, and the out-flowing Ōkārito River drains it into the Ōkārito Lagoon. It is the largest of ...

and

Lake Wahapo Lake Wahapo ( mi, Wahapako) is a small glacial lake in South Westland, New Zealand, within the Westland Tai Poutini National Park and near the township of Whataroa. It was a traditional mahinga kai (food-gathering place) for local Māori. State H ...

. The settlement's official name has been spelled with macrons over the vowels since 2010, although it is still commonly seen written as "Okarito".

History

occupation and seasonal harvesting in area began over 600 years ago. The Ōkārito historic gold mining settlement is home to

Donovan's Store Donovan's Store at Ōkārito on the West Coast of New Zealand is the oldest wooden building in Westland. It was built in the 1860s as a hotel and converted to a general store in the 1890s which operated for over 60 years. It is now a Category 1 ...

, the oldest known building on the West Coast, and the Ōkārito Memorial Obelisk, a heritage listed obelisk. The obelisk commemorates the 1860 purchase of Westland from local Maori, as well as the date that

Abel Tasman Abel Janszoon Tasman (; 160310 October 1659) was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first known European explorer to reach New ...

and James Cook sailed by, on 13 December 1642 and 23 March 1770 respectively. Originally a gold mining township, the population reached over 1,500 in 1866. It is now permanent home to only about 30 residents; among them the late

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

-winning writer

Keri Hulme Keri Ann Ruhi Hulme (9 March 194727 December 2021) was a New Zealand novelist, poet and short-story writer. She also wrote under the pen name Kai Tainui. Her novel '' The Bone People'' won the Booker Prize in 1985; she was the first New Zealan ...

and landscape photographer Andris Apse. Bird watching, eco-tours and kayak tours of the lagoon are available, and there are a number of local walking tracks. In 1909 the bones of a whale beached in 1908, north of the settlement were taken to Canterbury Museum and displayed and called the ''Okarito Whale''.

Wildlife

The rarest species of

kiwi Kiwi most commonly refers to: * Kiwi (bird), a flightless bird native to New Zealand * Kiwi (nickname), a nickname for New Zealanders * Kiwifruit, an edible berry * Kiwi dollar or New Zealand dollar, a unit of currency Kiwi or KIWI may also ref ...

, the Okarito kiwi, or rowi, is found near the town of Ōkārito. It is also the only nesting ground for white herons, or kōtuku, in New Zealand.

References

External links

Okarito Community Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ōkārito Westland District Populated places in the West Coast, New Zealand West Coast Gold Rush