Wairau
Wairau is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- -41.60°, 173.40°
About Wairau
The Wairau River is one of the longest rivers in New Zealand's South Island. It flows for 170 kilometres (110 mi) from the Spenser Mountains (a northern range of the Southern Alps), firstly in a northwards direction and then northeast down a long, straight valley in inland Marlborough.
The river's lower reaches and surrounding fertile plain provide the basis for the Marlborough wine region. The river has its outflow into Cook Strait at Cloudy Bay, just north of Blenheim in the island's northeast. The Wairau River meets the sea at the Wairau Bar, an important archaeological site.
In pre-European and early colonial New Zealand, one of the South Island's largest Māori settlements was close to the mouth of the Wairau. The Wairau Valley was the scene of the 1843 Wairau Affray, the first violent clash between Māori residents and English settlers over land in New Zealand and the only one to take place in the South Island.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Wairau River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Wairau: Key Facts
| Length | 169 km |
|---|---|
| Drainage basin | 4,220 km² |
| Mouth | Te Koko-o-Kupe / Cloudy Bay |
| Tributaries | Goulter River, Ōhinemahuta River, Waikākaho River, Hamilton River, Wye River, Waihopai River, St Ronans Stream, Rainbow River |
Facts from Wikidata Q2540733 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Wairau: Quick Answers
- Where is Wairau?
- Wairau is located in New Zealand, at 41.5954° S, 173.3966° E.
- Are there dams on the Wairau?
- No dam on the Wairau is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.