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.
Taonga and Māori land claims The river is of special and spiritual importance for Māori, who also refer to it as
Te awa tupua. It was the home for a large proportion of Māori villages in pre-European times. As such, it is regarded as
taonga, a special treasure. Local
iwi first petitioned Parliament in the 1870s, and efforts have since been made to safeguard the river and give it the respect it deserves. For the same reason, the river has been one of the most fiercely contested regions of the country in claims before the
Waitangi Tribunal for the return of tribal lands. The Whanganui River claim is heralded as the longest-running legal case in New Zealand history with petitions and court action in the 1930s, Waitangi Tribunal hearings in the 1990s, the ongoing
Tieke Marae land occupation since 1993, and the highly publicised
Moutoa Gardens occupation in 1995. On 30 August 2012 agreement was reached that entitled the Whanganui River to a
legal identity, a first in the world,
Chris Finlayson, the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, said the river would have an identity "with all the corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a legal person". He said some people would consider it strange, but it is "no stranger than family trusts, or companies, or incorporated societies." The bill finalised 140-year-old negotiations between Māori and the government. or "big harbour". Some very early maps show that European settlers called the river the
Knowsley River, however it was known as the
Wanganui River until its name was officially changed to
Whanganui in 1991, respecting the wishes of local iwi. Part of the reason for this change was also to avoid confusion with the
Wanganui River in the
South Island. The city at the river's mouth was called Wanganui until December 2009, when the government decided that while either spelling was acceptable,
Crown agencies would use the
Whanganui spelling. See
Controversy over Wanganui/Whanganui spelling ==Fauna and flora==