Hector and Ngakawau are two lightly populated settlements located at the mouth of the

Ngakawau River The Ngakawau River is a river of the West Coast Region of New Zealand's South Island. It flows generally northwest, reaching the Tasman Sea at Hector. The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "the shags" for ''Ng� ...

in 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 ...

region of New Zealand. Both settlements are situated on State Highway 67 between Westport and

Karamea Karamea is a town on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the northernmost settlement of any real size on the West Coast, and is located northeast by road from Westport. Apart from a narrow coastal strip, the town of Karam ...

. Despite a low population, many of the workers at New Zealand's largest open-cut coal mine at Stockton choose to live at these places and shuttles frequently operate between the two places.

Hector

Hector sits on the northern side of the

's mouth, and is the more populous of the two settlements. Hector has adopted the endangered

Hector's dolphin Hector's dolphin (''Cephalorhynchus hectori'') is one of four dolphin species belonging to the genus ''Cephalorhynchus''. Hector's dolphin is the only cetacean endemic to New Zealand, and comprises two subspecies: ''C. h. hectori'', the more nu ...

as a town icon and is involved in

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...

projects to protect the dolphin. The dolphins often play just offshore from Hector and attract visitors. Another local attraction is a country music museum.

Ngakawau

Ngakawau, the more economically important of the two settlements, stands on the southern side of the mouth of the

. Ngakawau serves as the terminus of the

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

railway. An aerial ropeway from the

Stockton Mine Stockton Mine, on the Stockton Coal Field, is New Zealand's largest opencast mining operation. The entrance to the mine is at the former settlement of Stockton. Extent The coal field is situated between 5 and 10 kilometres linear distance s ...

transports significant tonnages of coal to Ngakawau for trans-shipment to the port town of Lyttelton on the east coast of New Zealand. The line from Westport to Ngakawau opened on 12 September 1877, and an extension northward across the river through Hector to

Mokihinui Mokihinui ( mi, Mōkihinui) is a lightly populated locality on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Mokihinui is on the Tasman Sea coastline north of Westport and is on the southern side of the Mōkihinui River's mouth, the third larg ...

opened on 8 August 1893. The line ultimately extended to

Seddonville Seddonville is a lightly populated locality on the West Coast, New Zealand, 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 is ...

on 23 February 1895 and became known as the

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

. Passenger services through both settlements were provided by

mixed train A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. Although common in the early days of railways, by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. Typically, servic ...

s; they ceased to operate from 14 October 1946. Coal was almost the sole traffic from that stage, and as output from mines to the north declined, the line's maintenance costs outweighed revenue and the section north of Ngakawau closed.

Demographics

Ngakawau is defined by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement and covers , including Hector. It is part of the wider Buller Coalfields statistical area, which covers . The population of Hector and Ngakawau was 201 in the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the sho ...

, a decrease of 18 (-8.2%) since the 2013 census, and a decrease of 33 (-14.1%) since the 2006 census. There were 105 males and 96 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.09 males per female. Ethnicities were 180 people (89.6%) European/Pākehā, 33 (16.4%) Māori, 3 (1.5%) Pacific peoples, and 3 (1.5%) other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). Of the total population, 18 people (9.%) were under 15 years old, 18 (9.%) were 15–29, 111 (55.2%) were 30–64, and 60 (29.9%) were over 65.

Notes and references

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hector And Ngakawau Buller District Populated places in the West Coast, New Zealand