Inangahua River

{{Short description|River in the South Island of New Zealand}}

{{Use New Zealand English|date=April 2024}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}

File:Inangahua River, West Coast, New Zealand, 1976.jpg

The Inangahua River is located in the north-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is a major tributary of the Buller River, where it joins at the town of Inangahua Junction.

The Inangahua River begins near the Rahu Saddle{{cite encyclopedia |title=Inangahua River |editor-first=John A. |editor-last=Cullen |edition=7th |page=158 |encyclopedia=Wises New Zealand Guide: A Gazetteer of New Zealand |date=1979 |publisher=Wises |location=Auckland}} and flows northwest for {{convert|35|km|mi}}, followed by State Highway 7, to the town of Reefton. The Reefton Power Station, now decommissioned, operated with water taken from the river from 1888 to 1949. At Reefton it turns north and continues for {{convert|30|km|mi}}, passing Cronadun, before reaching the Buller some {{convert|40|km|mi}} from the larger river's outflow into the Tasman Sea near Westport. The Inangahua's tributaries include the Waitahu River, Te Wharau River, and Awarau River.

File:Larry River MRD.jpg or Larry River, a tributary of the Inangahua River]]

The name Inangahua is from the Māori language; inanga means whitebait, small edible fish of Galaxias spp., and hua may mean the drying and preserving of them in sealed containers{{Cite book|last=Reed|first=A. W. |author-link=Alexander Wyclif Reed |title=Place Names of New Zealand |publisher=Penguin |others=Revised by Peter Dowling |year=2010 |isbn=9780143204107 |edition=2010 rev. |location=North Shore, New Zealand |page=180}} or may mean plenty of. The river was known for big catches of whitebait.{{cite book |last1=Reed |first1=A. W. |author-link1=Alexander Wyclif Reed |others=Revised by Peter Dowling |year=2016 |title=Maori Place Names: Their Meanings and Origins |edition=4th |location=Oratia, Auckland |publisher=Oratia Books |page=33}}

Prior to 1866 settlers sometimes used the name Thackeray River, rather than Inangahua.{{Cite web |date=11 Jul 1865 |title=News of the Months. NELSON EXAMINER AND NEW ZEALAND CHRONICLE |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NENZC18650711.2.28 |access-date=2022-12-18 |website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}{{Cite web |date=4 Apr 1866 |title=THE NEW DIGGING'S. NELSON EVENING MAIL |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NEM18660404.2.6 |access-date=2022-12-18 |website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} William Makepeace Thackeray was a close friend of Charles Buller,{{Cite book |last=Gordon N.ray |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.176638 |title=William Makepeace Thackeray Vol I |date=1945}} after whom the Buller River was named.{{Cite web |date=14 Jul 1923 |title=THE BULLER RIVER. EVENING POST |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19230714.2.144.4 |access-date=2023-01-06 |website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}