Friends of the Whanganui River

Since 1989, there has been a group of New Zealanders who have called themselves, Friends of the Whanganui River. Each year they have published a Whanganui River Annual, A4 size and with at least 64 pages. The memories, stories and accounts of personal experiences on the river, of the history of the Maori and European settlements and farms, and of the riverboats, have made this a unique publication. With around 300 members, throughout New Zealand and overseas, their subscriptions along with donations, have provided the funds for its publication and support the FOTWR give to other projects.

The Friends are a non-profit organisation and the editor does the work voluntarily. He appreciates the articles that, as he says, seem to keep flowing in from people with such a wide range of interests. “Thanks to the goodwill of these friends, the Whanganui River Annual has become tremendous source of historic information.”

Arthur Bates, a Whanganui historian, brought the original friends together. How surprised I think they would have been, to know that one day in 2014, the River would be legally designated as a Person. That Person has been a good friend to local iwi for several centuries as well as to us new comers!