Inangahua Junction

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Inangahua Junction

Inangahua Junction is a small town in the northwest of New Zealand's South Island. It is located at the confluence of the Inangahua and Buller Rivers, 30 kilometres north of Reefton and 40 kilometres southeast of Westport. The town's main industries include forestry, coal, farming and sawmilling. There is a small primary school, shops, fire station and earthquake museum.

The name of the town refers to inanga, the Māori word for whitebait. Inangahua Junction was formerly known as Christies Junction.

The town was substantially affected by an earthquake on Friday, 24 May 1968. At 5:24am, the earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale struck the town, and many landslides and aftershocks followed. The entire population of around 100 was temporarily evacuated. Three people were killed, and another three died later when a helicopter evacuating survivors crashed. As of 2006 no larger on-land earthquake has occurred in New Zealand since.

Inangahua Junction is located on the Stillwater - Westport Line railway, and was intended to be the junction of this line with the never-completed Nelson Section. In 1914, the railway was opened to Inangahua Junction from its former terminus in Cronadun, but subsequent progress through the Buller Gorge was slow. In July 1942, trains began running the full length of the line between Stillwater and Westport, but the line was not officially opened until 5 December 1943. With the commencement of through services, passenger trains were operated by RM class Vulcan railcars, which connected in Stillwater with services that ran along the Midland Line between Greymouth and Christchurch. In 1967, the passenger services ceased, and today, the primary traffic is coal, with multiple coal trains passing through Inangahua Junction daily.

[edit] PHAT Music Festival

Inangahua is the host of the PHAT New Years Eve music festivals. PHAT07 was called Bass Camp and featured the best of New Zealand and many international acts. PHAT is held on flat clearings surrounded by rain forest on Rough Creek Road, off Browns Creek Road, south of Inangahua. PHAT is run by Dave and Selena, who also run the PHAT club in Nelson. Approximately 5000 people attend the PHAT music festivals, with 48 hours of continuous performance on two stages. A pre-party was held at Berlins and 'Phat Taster' shows held in Wellington and Auckland before the event with 'Phat After Party' events subsequently.