Greymouth is the largest town in the West Coast region in the South Island of New Zealand, and the seat of the Grey District Council. The population of the whole Grey District is 14,200, which accounts for 43% of the West Coast's inhabitants. The Greymouth urban area had an estimated population of 8,320. A large proportion of the District, 65%, is part of the Conservation Estate owned and managed by the Department of Conservation making Greymouth a natural centre for walkers and trampers.
Runanga is a small town on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is located eight kilometres to the northeast of Greymouth, to the north of the Grey River. Barrytown is 21 kilometres (13 mi) further north. State Highway 6 and the Rapahoe Branch railway run through the town. Runanga was formerly a railway junction, with the steep Rewanui Branch diverging from the Rapahoe line until closure in 1985.
The Taramakau River is a river of the West Coast Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It rises in the Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana near Harper Pass, 80 kilometres (50 mi) due east of Hokitika, and runs westward for 75 kilometres (47 mi) into the Tasman Sea 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south of Greymouth.
Reefton is a small town in the West Coast region of New Zealand, some 80 km northeast of Greymouth, in the Inangahua River valley. Ahaura is 44 km south-west of Reefton, Inangahua Junction is 34 km to the north, Maruia is 63 km to the east, and the Lewis Pass is 66 km to the south-east.
Grey District is a district in the West Coast Region of New Zealand that covers Greymouth, Runanga, Blackball, Cobden, and settlements along the Grey River. It has a land area of 3,474.44 square kilometres (1,341.49 sq mi). The seat of the Grey District Council, the local government authority that administers the district, is at Greymouth, where 58.6% of the district's population live.
Big Pit National Coal Museum is an industrial heritage museum in Blaenavon, Torfaen, Wales. A working coal mine from 1880 to 1980, it was opened to the public in 1983 as a charitable trust called the Big Pit (Blaenavon) Trust. By 1 February 2001 Big Pit Coal Museum was incorporated into the National Museums and Galleries of Wales as the National Mining Museum of Wales. The site is dedicated to operational preservation of the Welsh heritage of coal mining, which took place during the Industrial Revolution.
The Stillwater Ngākawau Line (SNL), formerly the Stillwater–Westport Line (SWL) and the Ngakawau Branch, is a secondary main line, part of New Zealand's national rail network. It runs between Stillwater and Ngakawau via Westport on the West Coast of the South Island. It was one of the longest construction projects in New Zealand's history, with its first section opened in 1889 and the full line completed 1942.
Inchbonnie is a rural locality in the West Coast region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is located on the north bank of the Taramakau River and is just to the south of Lake Poerua. "Inchbonnie" is a hybrid of Lowland Scots, bonnie meaning "pretty" and Scottish Gaelic innis meaning island, often anglicised as "Inch", as in Inchkeith or Inchkenneth in Scotland.
Grey, originally formed as Greymouth, is a former parliamentary electorate in the West Coast region of New Zealand. The electorate of Greymouth was created for the 1881 general election, and lasted until 1890. In 1890 the Grey electorate was created, and was abolished in 1919.
Grey Valley is a former parliamentary electorate in the West Coast region of New Zealand. The electorate was created for the 1871 general election as a single-member electorate, became a two-member electorate for the 1876 general election, and was split between the single-member electorates of Greymouth and Inangahua for the 1881 general election.
Thomas Shailer Weston, often referred to as Thomas S. Weston, was a judge and 19th-century Member of Parliament from Westland, New Zealand. Weston was the patriarch of one of two dominant Canterbury families of the legal profession.
The Westport News is an independently-owned evening newspaper published in Westport, New Zealand. It is published on weekdays, and is one of New Zealand's smallest independent newspapers. The Westport News is distributed from Karamea in the north to Punakaiki in the south and as far inland as Reefton.
The Mayor of Grey, often referred to as the Mayor of Greymouth, officiates over the Grey District of New Zealand which is administered by the Grey District Council with its seat in Greymouth. The current Mayor is Tania Gibson. Two predecessors to this office were the Mayor of Greymouth, officiating over the Greymouth Borough Council from 1868, and from 1877 the chairman of the Grey County Council.
Hokitika Museum is a museum in Hokitika on the West Coast of the South Island in New Zealand, and is the West Coast's largest museum and archive. It is housed in the historic Hokitika Carnegie Library building. Exhibitions include information about the gold rush and the unique West Coast stone pounamu (greenstone) and its value to Māori. The museum also holds a significant photographic collection. Seismic strengthening requirements closed the museum in September 2019. According to the Westland District Council Web site as of December 2021 the museum had not yet reopened.
The Left Bank Art Gallery is a public art gallery in Greymouth, New Zealand. Operated by the West Coast Society of Arts Inc, it opened in 1992 in a 1927 Bank of New Zealand building on the left bank of the Grey River. The only staffed public gallery on the West Coast, it exhibits artists from Karamea to Haast, and holds the National Pounamu Collection which was assembled from a biennial carving competition.
The Runanga Miners' Hall is a hall in the town of Runanga, on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. The current structure dates from 1937, and replaced an early miners' hall from 1908 that was destroyed by fire. The hall is notable for its place in the history of the organised labour movement in New Zealand, and was granted historic place category 1 status by Heritage New Zealand in 2013.
The Grey District Library, also known as the Greymouth Public Library, is a public library located in Greymouth in the West Coast region of the South Island of New Zealand.
Allan John Birchfield is a coal and gold miner from the South Island's West Coast of New Zealand. He is a West Coast Regional Councillor who served as chairperson from 2019 to 2023. He is known for his climate change denial.
The Pounamu Pathway is a $34.5 million New Zealand tourism venture, launched in 2020 by the Māori hapū or subtribe Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae, intended to create four linked visitor experience centres on the West Coast of the South Island. The visitor centres will tell stories of the West Coast's early Māori history and the importance of pounamu or greenstone.
The town of Greymouth, at the mouth of the Grey River on New Zealand's West Coast, has been regularly flooded since its founding. Many floods were assigned names, such as: The Great Flood (1872); The Jubilee Flood (1887); The Big Flood (1905); The Biggest Since 1887 (1936); The Biggest Since 1936 (1977); The Big One ; and The Biggest. A flood protection wall was completed in 1990, and the town has not since experienced flooding from the river.
