Река Уангануи: История, Значение и Правовой Статус

Major river in the North Island of New Zealand

The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the country's third longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people. In March 2017 it became the world's second natural resource (after Te Urewera) to be given its own legal identity, with the rights, duties and liabilities of a legal person. The Whanganui Treaty settlement brought the longest running litigation in New Zealand history to an end.

With a length of , the Whanganui is the country's third longest river. Much of the land to either side of the upper reaches is part of the Whanganui National Park, though the river itself is not part of the park. The river rises on the northern slopes of Mount Tongariro, one of the three active volcanoes of the central plateau, close to Lake Rotoaira. It flows to the north west before turning south west at Taumarunui. From here it runs through the rough, bush clad hill country of the King Country before turning south east and flowing past the small settlements of Pipiriki and Jerusalem, before reaching the coast at the city of Whanganui. It is one of the country's longest navigable rivers. The river valley changed in the 1843 Wanganui earthquake. In the 1970s a minor eruption from Mount Ruapehu spilled some of the contents from the Ruapehu Crater Lake (the same root cause of the Tangiwai disaster). This toxic water entered the Whanganui River and had the effect of killing much of the fish life downstream. In the aftermath of the poisoning, eels as large as and trout as large as were washed up dead along the banks of the river. The tributary Whakapapa River had fish losses due to a lahar from Ruapehu in April 1975. Possibly this had effects downstream.

Māori legend explains the formation of the river in the Mount Taranaki legend. When Mount Taranaki left the central plateau for the coast, the land was split open, and the river filled the rift. Another Māori legend explains that after Māui caught the giant fish that was to become the North Island of New Zealand, known as Te Ika a Māui, he prayed to Ranginui who then sent two tear drops to land on Māui's fish. These two tear drops then became the rivers Whanganui and Waikato. According to Māori tradition, the river was first explored by Tamatea, one of the leaders of the original migration to the new land, who travelled up the river and on to Lake Taupō. Many places along the river are named in his honour. The Whanganui River was an important communication route to the central North Island, both for Māori and for settlers, despite many stretches of white water and over 200 rapids. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the area around the Whanganui was densely inhabited and with the arrival of the colonial settlers, the area near the river's mouth became a major trading post. Although it was already a significant route to the interior, the major development of the river as a trade route was by Alexander Hatrick, who started the first regular steam boat service in 1892. The service eventually ran to Taumarunui where rail and coach services connected with points north. One of Hatrick's original boats, paddle steamer PS Waimarie, has been restored and runs scheduled sailings in Whanganui. Another of the Hatrick boats, MV Wairua, has also been restored and can be seen on the river. During the early 20th century, the Wanganui River, as it was then called, was one of the country's top tourist attractions, its rugged beauty and the Māori kāinga (villages) that dotted the banks attracting thousands of tourists a year. With the completion of the North Island Main Trunk railway, the need for the steamboat route to the north greatly diminished, and the main economic activity of the river area became forestry. During the 1930s, attempts were made to open the river valley up as farmland, but they were not successful. One legacy of that time is the Bridge to Nowhere, built to provide access to settlements long since abandoned. In 1912–13 the French filmmaker Gaston Méliès shot a (now lost) documentary film The River Wanganui about the river, calling it the Rhine of New Zealand. The settlement of Jerusalem is of particular note. Jerusalem was home to two famous New Zealanders, Mother Mary Joseph Aubert, whose Catholic mission is still located at Jerusalem, and New Zealand poet James K. Baxter, who established a commune at the settlement in 1970. Other settlements are Tieke Kāinga, Pipiriki, Rānana, Matahiwi, and Koriniti.

Native fish species in the river include Cran's bully, upland bully, climbing galaxias (kōaro), longfin and short finned eels, pouched lamprey, shortjaw kokopu, torrentfish, New Zealand smelt and black flounder. Introduced brown and rainbow trout are found, although not in high numbers, and there have been reports of catfish. The river and its tributaries are home to a variety of invertebrates such as mayflies, stoneflies and caddis flies. The Nankeen night heron established roosts along the Whanganui River in the 1990s and is breeding in New Zealand only in this location. Much of the flora in the river basin can be characterised as a broadleaf and podocarp forest; understory species include crown fern (Blechnum discolor), and a variety of other ferns and shrubs.

In 1892 Alexander Hatrick was contracted by Thomas Cook & Son to carry tourists to Pipiriki on the paddle steamer PS Waimarie, the journey was "The Rhine of Maoriland" tourist route into the interior of New Zealand. The river boat subsequently carried mail, passengers and cargo. PS Waimarie operates on the lower stretches of the river, including dinner cruises to Avoca Hotel at Upokongaro and trips to Hipango Park for overnight camping. On 18 June 2010 the Adventurer 2 river boat embarked, attempting to make the voyage to Taumarunui. The first voyage to Taumarunui in 82 years. The Adventurer 2 now offers this trip to tourist as an historic alternative to jet boating and canoeing the river. Though in low water flows it cannot make it all the way to Taumarunui.

The oldest bridges over the river are rail bridges; the Aramoho Rail Bridge of 1876 in Whanganui and the Matapuna Bridge of 1903 1904 near Taumarunui.