Ngahere

{{Use New Zealand English|date=March 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Infobox settlement |name = Ngahere |population_total = 363 |population_as_of = 2013 |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = New Zealand |subdivision_type1 = Region |subdivision_name1 = West Coast |subdivision_type2 = District |subdivision_name2 = Grey District |pushpin_map = New Zealand West Coast |coordinates = {{coord|42|23|57|S|171|26|16|E|region:NZ|display=inline,title}} }} '''Ngahere''' is a locality in the Grey District of the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island.<ref>{{LINZ|16827||16 November 2007}}</ref> The 2013 New Zealand census gave the population of Ngahere and its surrounding area as 363, an increase of 5.2% or 18 people since the 2006 census.<ref>{{NZ Quickstats2013|14672|Nelson Creek-Ngahere}}</ref> Ngahere is located on the south bank of the Grey River, and State Highway 7 and the Stillwater–Westport Line (SWL) railway pass through the village.

==Railway== The railway reached Ngahere when an extension was built from Brunner on 1 August 1889, and it was the line's terminus until a further section to Ahaura was opened on 14 February 1890. On 1 August 1910, Ngahere became a railway junction when the Blackball Branch was opened, and this branch line operated until a flood in 1966 destroyed its bridge across the Grey River. The branch was formally closed on 21 February 1966.<ref>''New Zealand Railway and Tramway Atlas'', fourth edition, edited by John Yonge (Essex: Quail Map Company, 1993), 22.</ref> The next year, passenger trains through Ngahere on the SWL were cancelled; since this time, freight trains of coal have been the predominant traffic through Ngahere.{{sfn|Churchman|Hurst|2001|p=191, 197}}

==Churches==

===Sacred Heart Church=== thumb|right|Distant view of Sacred Heart Church, 2012 Sacred Heart Church is a Catholic church in Ngahere, within the Greymouth St Patrick's parish.<ref name="Chch diocese">{{cite web |url=https://chchcatholic.nz/location/greymouth-st-patrick-sacred-heart/ |title=Greymouth – St Patrick's Parish – Sacred Heart Church (Grey Valley-Ngahere) |publisher=Catholic Diocese of Christchurch |accessdate=23 October 2020}}</ref> The church was built in 1960, to replace an earlier church of the same name. Originally erected as St Patrick's in the gold-mining settlement of Notown in 1866, the kitset kauri church was relocated to Ngahere in 1922 after Notown had become a ghost town, and was relocated again to Shantytown Heritage Park after the present Sacred Heart Church was built.<ref name="Thanksgiving">{{cite web |url=http://ketewestcoast.peoplesnetworknz.info/documents/0000/0000/0136/Mawhera_Ministers__Association_-_150th_anniversary_service_-_19_May_2010.pdf |title=Ecumenical thanksgiving service |date=19 May 2010 |accessdate=23 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://shantytown.co.nz/attractions/explore-the-village/ |title=Explore the village |publisher=Shantytown Heritage Park |accessdate=23 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19220627.2.24 |title=West Coast notes |date=27 June 1922 |page=5 |work=The Press |accessdate=23 October 2020}}</ref>

===St Luke's=== St Luke's is a small former Anglican church, opposite the Ngahere sawmill on {{NZlSH|7}}, built in timber to plans from Ralph Tyler of Greymouth.<ref name="Donovan">{{cite book |title=Country Churches of New Zealand |first=Don |last=Donovan |publisher=New Holland |year=2002 |location=Auckland |page=120 |ISBN=1869660153}}</ref> The foundation stone was laid on 21 September 1952 by the Bishop of Nelson, Percival Stephenson,<ref name="Donovan"/> and the church was dedicated in 1954.<ref name="Thanksgiving"/> The church was sold in about 2010.<ref name="Thanksgiving"/>

== References == {{reflist}}

== Further reading == {{refbegin}} * {{Churchman & Hurst Railways of New Zealand}} {{refend}}

Category:Grey District Category:Populated places in the West Coast Region