Te Kauparenui / Gowan River is in 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. Its source is at Lake Rotoroa and travels 11 kilometres before feeding into the

Buller River The Buller River ( mi, Kawatiri) is a river in the South Island of New Zealand. One of the country's longest rivers, it flows for from Lake Rotoiti through the Buller Gorge and into the Tasman Sea near the town of Westport. Within the Bulle ...

. Mixed farming and forestry occurs on both banks of the river. The river has introduced trout which attracts recreational fishing. In 2001 a Water Conservation Order was placed on the river to recognise the value of it in an unmodified state. An application was made by Majac Trust to change the Order so that a hydroelectric electricity scheme could be constructed on the river. This was rejected by the Environment Court in August 2007. In August 2014, the name of the river was officially altered to Te Kauparenui / Gowan River. In 1843, Charles Heaphy named the river after

James Robert Gowen James Robert Gowen (1784–1862) was an amateur English botanist and horticulturist, who was secretary of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) from 1845 to 1850, treasurer until 1855, a landowner in the Wairau Valley in 1848, was still paying rates ...

, one the New Zealand Company directors, but misspelled the name as ''Gowan'' in his 1846 journal, and the latter spelling has since prevailed.

References

Rivers of the Tasman District Rivers of New Zealand {{Tasman-river-stub