Mokihinui ( mi, Mōkihinui) is a lightly populated locality 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 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 Tasman ...

. Mokihinui is on the Tasman Sea coastline north of Westport and is on the southern side of the Mōkihinui River's mouth, the third largest river on the West Coast. Once known as Waimarie, its official name is currently Mokihinui (without a macron), although it is named after the Mōkihinui River (officially spelled with a macron since 2019). Mokihinui is situated between the sea and the foothills of the

Glasgow Range The Glasgow Range is a mountain range on the northern West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is north of the Papahaua Range and its most significant river is the Mōkihinui River. History of settlement The Glasgow Range is largely dev ...

and State Highway 67 passes through Mokihinui just before reaching its northern end on the other side of the river. Statistics New Zealand includes Mokihinui in a statistical area of the same name that covers both the locality itself and its neighbours such as

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 ...

and Summerlea. According to the

2013 New Zealand census The 2013 New Zealand census was the thirty-third national census. "The National Census Day" used for the census was on Tuesday, 5 March 2013. The population of New Zealand was counted as 4,242,048, – an increase of 214,101 or 5.3% over the 20 ...

, Mokihinui has a population of 186, an increase of 15 people since the 2006 census. Mokihinui's population increases during

whitebait Whitebait is a collective term for the immature fry of fish, typically between long. Such young fish often travel together in schools along coasts, and move into estuaries and sometimes up rivers where they can be easily caught using fine-m ...

season, when visitors come to fish in the Mōkihinui River's mouth. In the early 1890s, a branch line railway from Westport was opened to Mokihinui; it ultimately ran through to Seddonville and was known as the Seddonville Branch. Passengers were carried on mixed trains until trains became freight-only on 14 October 1946. The line continued to operate until the end of the 1970s, when the coal mining activity that provided almost the sole freight on the line declined to such a point that revenue was lower than maintenance costs. The railway closed north of Ngakawau on 3 May 1981 and traces of its

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...

can be seen in the countryside around Mokihinui.David Leitch and Brian Scott, ''Exploring New Zealand's Ghost Railways'', rev. ed. (Wellington: Grantham House, 1998), 52-4.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mokihinui Buller District Populated places in the West Coast, New Zealand