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Story: Whanganui places

Waitōtara River

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Waitōtara River

Edward Williams’s 1865 watercolour shows the distinctive submerged tōtara and rimu sub-fossil stumps in the Waitōtara River estuary. They may have been submerged by post-glacial rising sea levels, or after tectonic movements which would have led to land subsiding.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: B-045-038/039

by Edward Arthur Williams

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Diana Beaglehole, Whanganui places – West of Whanganui, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/18948/waitotara-river (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by Diana Beaglehole, published 3 March 2009, updated 15 June 2015.