The Waihemo / Shag River is located in

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

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. It rises in the

Kakanui Range The Kakanui Range is a range of high hills located inland from Oamaru in the South Island of New Zealand. The range forms a boundary between the valley of the Waitaki River to the north and the high plateau known as the Maniototo and the upper wa ...

, flowing southeast for , or before reaching the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

on the south side of

Shag Point / Matakaea Shag Point / Matakaea is a headland and township in East Otago, New Zealand. It is located close to State Highway 1 nine kilometres to the northeast of Palmerston, at the southern end of a long open bay known as Katiki Beach. The point itself ...

, east of

Palmerston Palmerston may refer to: People * Christie Palmerston (c. 1851–1897), Australian explorer * Several prominent people have borne the title of Viscount Palmerston ** Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston (c. 1673–1757), Irish nobleman and ...

. The Dunback Branch

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

that operated from the 1880s to 1989 largely followed the route of the river from its junction with the Main South Line near Shag Point township to its terminus in

Dunback Dunback, formerly Waihemo, is a small town in the Otago region of New Zealand. It is located between Palmerston and Ranfurly on Highway 85. It has a population of about 200 people. Most of these people live in the rural areas near the town. ...

. The small- to medium-sized river has been adversely affected over the past decades by farming practices in the area. Much of its length is overgrown with

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...

s, and during the summer its flow can become significantly reduced. In 1985, the name of the river was gazetted as Shag River (Waihemo). In August 2021, the name was officially amended to Waihemo / Shag River. Waihemo means a ‘river that has gone away’ or ‘dwindled’. Early whalers named the river after the common seabird. Shag Point

References

Rivers of Otago Rivers of New Zealand {{Otago-river-stub