The Arahura River, for a time called the Brunner River after the explorer

Thomas Brunner Thomas Brunner (April 1821 – 22 April 1874) was an English-born surveyor and explorer remembered for his exploration of the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Brunner was born in April 1821 in Oxford. When he was fifteen, he began t ...

, is a river located on the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

of the

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 Tasman ...

of New Zealand. It is approximately in length and flows into the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) 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 Abe ...

eight kilometres north 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 . ...

, next to the

Arahura Pa Arahura may refer to: * Arahura (canoe), a Māori migration canoe * Arahura (twin screw ship), a 1905 twin-screw steam passenger and cargo ship * Arahura Marae, a New Zealand West Coast tribal meeting ground * Arahura River The Arahura River, ...

. It is an important place to

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 C ...

for the resource of

pounamu Pounamu is a term for several types of hard and durable stone found in southern New Zealand. They are highly valued in New Zealand, and carvings made from pounamu play an important role in Māori culture. Name The Māori word , also used ...

(greenstone), only found in a few places in the South Island of New Zealand. When the region was sold to the

British Crown The Crown is the state (polity), state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, British Overseas Territories, overseas territories, Provinces and territorie ...

in 1860 by the chiefs of Poutini Ngāi Tahu the rights to pounamu on the Arahura River were meant to be retained, these rights were ignored in the deed (

Arahura Deed The Arahura Deed was a land sale and agreement between Kāi Tahu iwi and the New Zealand settler government, signed on 21 May 1860 by Poutini chiefs at Māwhera (modern-day Greymouth). The signed document states the chiefs give up their people ...

) . In 1990s Ngāi Tahu and the government negotiated for ownership of pounamu from the river to be restored and this was settled in the Ngai Tahu (Pounamu Vesting) Act 1997. The lower reaches of the Arahura River were a major producer of gold in the past – and extensively mined, but are now worked out. In 2009 the 120-year-old dual road/rail bridge across the river was replaced. Sections of the old bridge were reused elsewhere on the rail network and one complete span was retained for a local heritage park. The river is the subject of a 2016 song of the same name by Marlon Williams.

References

External links

An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966. Westland District Rivers of the West Coast, New Zealand Rivers of New Zealand Bridges in the West Coast region {{WestCoastNZ-river-stub